A Schizophrenics Love
by Alienes
Summary: Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital, a place for those deemed insane and beyond help. Can one determined healer prove them wrong and heal the one she loves?
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: **Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital, a place for those deemed insane and beyond help. Can one determined healer prove them wrong and heal the one she loves?  
**Genre: **Romance/Hurt/Comfort/Angst [possible humor]  
**Warnings: **AU/Sex/Language/Mature Themes  
**Pairings: **Ichigo and Orihime

**AUTHORS NOTE: **Hello to anyone reading this, I don't really have much to say except that I hope you enjoy it, oh and thanks for reading this.

**A Schizophrenics Love**

**Chapter 1: **So _you're _the new doctor?

A tall woman ran through the slowly filling car park, cursing her luck that made her late on her first day of her new job. It seemed as if the heavens were against her or something, firstly both her and her roommate had overslept, then they found out, (to their dismay) that their boiler had broken and they had no hot water. After an ice cold shower she had realised that she was late and had to leave without having any breakfast. She decided that it was a miracle that there wasn't much traffic on her journey, otherwise she'd have been later than she already was.

"Can I help you?" asked a cold looking woman as she glanced up from her state of the art computer, she was frowning and had her hair pulled into a bun and she was also wearing glasses.

"Good morning, um..." the woman bent forward to glance that the woman's I.D badge that was dangling from her neck, "good morning Nanao-san, my name is Inoue Orihime," she smiled brightly at the frosty faced woman. Nanao just stared impassively at the bubbly auburn haired woman in front of her. Orihime's smile faltered slightly,

"I'm the new doctor who's supposed to start today," she confirmed for Nanao, trying to pretend she hadn't noticed the look of shock that flashed across Nanao's face, though to her credit she did mask it quickly, most people didn't even bother to try and hide their shock. Orihime knew she didn't look like the sort of person who would choose to work in a hospital, a psychiatric hospital no less, but that was her calling and she couldn't help if she looked a bit out of the ordinary for such an environment. Whilst the other doctors chose to wear conservative suits underneath their white lab coats, Orihime would always wear what she felt comfortable in. Today for example she was wearing a knee length light green skirt with several orange flowers adorned on it, she was also wearing a green vest top, it was a darker shade of green than her skirt so it contrast nicely. Her oversized breasts and quirky expressions didn't help her much either when she met new people in her job, they always assumed she was visiting a relative and when she told them she was a doctor they would always give her meaningless jobs as if she were incapable of doing anything but filing away patient records. Orihime didn't mind doing jobs like that really, someone had to do them, but it always irked her when she realised that everyone had completely the wrong impression of her. They thought she was a dumb just above average kid fresh out of university, and half of that was true, she'd only been out of university for two years, but the other half was wrong; Orihime was one of the best.

"So _you're _the new doctor Unohana-sama was talking about?" Nanao raised a still sceptical eyebrow at Orihime.

"Apparently so," Orihime said in a tone she rarely used, it was cold and sounded foreign to her, but she knew she would have to use it to gain some respect, she would not stand for people walking all over her. Nanao looked her over for one brief second before sighing and pushing a button that opened the doors for Orihime to enter the rest of the hospital.

"Through here," Nanao instructed, "and you can wait in here till someone comes to take you down to Unohana-sama," Nanao led Orihime into the office she had been sitting in and then she pointed to a worn old couch.

"I could go and find her myself you know? I'm already pretty late as it is, and I don't want to cause any trouble," Orihime said as she reluctantly sat down on the couch, this really wasn't a very good start to her day. Nanao shook her head furiously,

"No, you are not allowed under any circumstances allowed to walk around unattended until you've had your orientation. You'll cause more trouble doing that than by waiting around here. Now, if you'll excuse me," Nanao turned away from Orihime and fished out a walkie-talkie, "Kenpachi? Kenpachi?" Nanao barked into the walkie-talkie. There was silence for a few seconds before Orihime heard some crackling and then a gruff voice spoke,

"What do you want woman?"

"Send someone down from your department to escort the new doctor to Unohana-sama's office please. Immediately Kenpachi," Nanao added.

"Yeah, yeah, oi Ikkaku? Get your ass up to the mai-"

Nanao turned the walkie-talkie off and placed it back in her pocket, "someone from the security department will be here shortly to escort you to Unohana-sama," she informed Orihime frostily before sitting back in her chair and refocusing all her attentions into her work. Orihime didn't have long to wait until she heard the sounds of footsteps squeaking along the empty hallway alerting her to the fact that her escort had arrive. She stood up and walked to the door before he even had a chance to knock, she was getting impatient all she wanted to do was start her job. She opened the door and came face to face with a lazy looking man who was completely bald. She smiled briefly at him before turning back to Nanao,

"Thank you for your help Nanao-san," she politely said before taking a step out of the office and closing the door behind her.

"So, you're the new doctor eh?" Ikkaku asked with the same scepticism in his tone that Nanao had. Orihime nodded vigorously, taking care to walk slightly in front of him after she noticed his eyes sliding downwards to her chest when she was next to him.

"You're Ikkaku-san right?" Orihime asked as they walked through the corridor. The whole corridor was a dull grey colour making Orihime feel slightly depressed, but she shook the feeling away. _Patients can smell weakness_, she reminded herself of the words of her mentor and she did not want to appear weak on her first day.

"Madarame Ikkaku, deputy of security here at Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital," he said his job title with pride and Orihime got the impression that he took his job very seriously. This was a change for her, at the previous hospital she had worked at security had been quite lax, there had been none of this business about walking around escorted until she had her orientation back at Heuco Psychiatric Hospital. She had just been about to ask him why security was so tight when she suddenly found herself pressed up against the wall and Ikkaku was standing in front of her in a protective stance.

"Keep moving Grimmjow," Ikkaku ordered. Orihime peeked round his shoulder and saw a tall man with spiky blue hair leering at her. She felt a shiver threaten to run through her body but she willed it away and forced herself to stare defiantly at the man.

"Grimmjow..." Ikkaku said warningly, his finger reaching to his sides to finger his taser gun. The man named Grimmjow narrowed his eyes at Ikkaku before muttering a string of profanities and walking off down the hall. Only once Grimmjow had turned a corner did Ikkaku let out a sigh of relief,

"Well that was lucky. C'mon...ah did you tell me your name?" Ikkaku asked as they resumed walking again. Orihime shook her head,

"No I didn't, I'm Inoue Orihime, and what did you mean by 'that was lucky'?"

"That was Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, he's been in here for about two years now and still nobody has figured out his 'thing' for women."

"Thing?"

"Grimmjow doesn't like women, it's pretty simple, he can get pretty violent if you don't know what you're doing around him, so watch out. Today seems to be one of his calmer days, but on a bad day..." Ikkaku chuckled darkly and pointed towards his taser, making Orihime shudder involuntarily, she didn't like to think how often that taser had been used.

"I hope he's not one of my patients then," Orihime muttered quietly, more to herself than to Ikkaku, but he heard anyway.

"I wouldn't imagine Unohana-sama putting you on his case, she's the only woman who ever comes into regular contact with him, and the rest of his doctors are males. Speaking of Unohana-sama, this is your stop," Ikkaku had stopped outside a door labelled "Chief." He knocked twice, waited a few seconds the pushed open the door, indicating for Orihime to follow him in.

"Yes Ikkaku?"

"I've got the new doctor here for you,"

"Ah, excellent, take a seat Ikkaku, I'll need you to escort her round the hospital in a moment, where is she?"

Orihime took this as her cue to step from behind Ikkaku and smile at her new boss. She supposed she looked friendly enough, though Orihime could immediately tell this was not someone to mess with. She looked rather young, but she had an aura about her that suggested she was older than she appeared.

"So, _you're _Inoue Orihime, my new psychotherapist?" although she was smiling at Orihime, she couldn't quite manage to get rid of the doubtful tone in her voice. Orihime had to school her expression carefully to stop her eyebrow from twitching, _is every person I meet here going to ask me that question_?

"Yes I am, and it's very nice to meet you Unohana-sama," Orihime bowed slightly before sitting down in the chair in front of Unohana's desk, she noticed that Unohana had her work file on the table and it was obvious she had been reading up on Orihime for a while.

"You have quite an impressive history Orihime-san, you graduated top of your class, your grades have always been exceptional, and you've gotten excellent recommendations from both establishments you worked at prior to coming here,"

Orihime beamed, she had worked so hard all her life to get where she was now and she was damn proud of it.

"That all means nothing here at Seireitei Psychiatric."

Orihime blinked several times at her new boss, _what is she saying_? "I don't understand Unohana-sama," Orihime frowned. Unohana lent forward in her seat and gave Orihime a serious look,

"This isn't like school, or the other hospitals you've worked at. Everyone here has a serious mental illness that causes them to be an extreme danger to either themselves or society. In most cases they are untreatable and we are just here to care for them, but there a few who still have that little shred of sanity in them. You must treat each case differently here, treat everyone as individual. Essentially, everything you've learnt from textbooks or teachers has to be thrown out of the window, that kind of thinking will get you killed here" Unohana paused and scrutinised the woman before her, she looked visibly shocked but there was something in her eye – determination? – that told her that she had found a keeper, "you may think I'm being over dramatic, but I'm only telling you this for your own good. This environment doesn't suit everybody, so I'm going to give you the chance now to lea-"

"No," Orihime cut her off before she could even finish her sentence, "I don't want you to even give me that chance. I knew what I was getting into when I picked this profession, and I'm definitely not going to back down now I've gotten to where I want to be!"

There was silence in the room for a few moments and Orihime began to wonder if she had done the right thing interrupting Unohana whilst she was talking. All Orihime's fears were washed away when Unohana suddenly broke into a maternal smile,

"Excellent, that is just what I wanted to hear. Now, let's get you started shall we? I'm giving you three cases to begin with, and depending how you do with these three by your yearly assessment I will think about either giving you more, or taking some away. I'm just going to brief you quickly on your patients so you know what to expect when you meet them later on. I'll give you their files and case history later on. Your charges will be; Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, though she prefers to be called Nel, to put it simply, she is a 23 year old woman who thinks she is five years old. She's easy to please and very hyperactive and she has a fierce temper, so watch out for that. Your next patient is Ulquiorra Cifer, he is suicidal and is on suicide watch _at all times_, under no circumstances are you to bring any sharp ended object into your meetings with him, not even a pencil I'm afraid, you'll just have to remember every detail, though this should be easy since he is also rather silent. It's not often you will hear something out of him that doesn't have any relevance to suicide or death. Your last patient is your most difficult of the three I would say. His name is Ichigo Kurosaki and he has been diagnosed as a chronic schizophrenic and he also has an extreme case of multiple personality disorder. He's been here five years and we haven't gotten much out of him, tread gently with him, he can become pretty nasty when riled up. Think you can handle it?"

Orihime nodded straight away, "Hai Unohana-sama, I won't let you down!"

Unohana couldn't help but smile at Orihime's carefree attitude; it made a difference to the usual sullenness she had to deal with, "Good. Now, Ikkaku, take Orihime-san to meet her patients, and stick with her today please as part of her orientation."

Orihime got up from her chair and bowed politely at Unohana before following Ikkaku out of the door.

"C'mon then, it's time to enter the madhouse," Ikkaku muttered.

**AUTHORS NOTE: **Well that was the first chapter, I hope you liked it, if you did can you review it for me? And if you didn't can you still review it for me? Also, if you did like this, there's another story called "Taming the Red Queen" written by "xXsnowfeltXx" and it has some of the same ideas that I've used, so you could check that out. Review please.


	2. Meeting her Three

**Summary: **Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital, a place for those deemed insane and beyond help. Can one determined healer prove them wrong and heal the one she loves?  
**Genre: **Romance/Hurt/Comfort/Angst [possible humor]  
**Warnings: **AU/Sex/Language/Mature Themes  
**Pairings: **Ichigo and Orihime

**AUTHORS NOTE: **Hello to anyone reading this, I don't really have much to say except that I hope you enjoy it, oh and thanks for reading this.

**A Schizophrenics Love**

**Chapter 2: **Meeting her three

"What do you mean you're not sure where she is?" Orihime looked shocked as she peered into the empty room of Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, "shouldn't we know where the patients are at all times?"

Ikkaku chuckled slightly at the obvious panic and concern on Orihime's face, "Calm down Inoue-san, this isn't a prison ya know? Most of the patients here aren't confined to their rooms, for most of them this hospital is their home and has been for quite a while now, it would be inhumane to lock them in their rooms like criminals. Now, Nel, if she's not in her room you can usually find her in one of three places; either outside in the garden area, in one of the creativity rooms, or stuffing her face in the cafeteria. It's just gone 11:00, so I'm gonna take a wild guess and suggest we check the cafeteria for her first, is that all right with you?"

Orihime nodded and followed Ikkaku as he directed her to the cafeteria; she filed away this new information about Nel in her brain, deciding that it could come in use further down the line. She thought it was odd that the patients were allowed to walk around freely, from what Unohana had said to her earlier she had expected everyone to be locked in their rooms as they had been at her previous establishments. She shook her head to herself; it seemed as if nothing would be that simple here at Seireitei Psychiatric.

It turned out that Ikkaku was right, and after about ten minutes of walking around the corridors they eventually found Nel sitting at a table in the cafeteria with several plates of food messily scattered around her. _So this is my first patient, Nel? _Orihime didn't approach her just yet; she stood a few tables behind her and surveyed the woman. _"Nel, to put it simply, she is a 23 year old woman who thinks she is five years old," _that was what Unohana had said about her, and Orihime could definitely see that. _She's already trying to make herself seem smaller than she is_, Orihime noted as she took in her long green hair that was pulled into a messy bun, as if she had tried to do it herself and had failed. Orihime could also see she was rather tall and had large breasts, but she was sitting slouched over slightly as if to hide this fact. _She reminds me of me, _Orihime couldn't help thinking to herself as she began walking towards Nel. And it was true; Nel had the same childish air the Orihime often had, though of course Nel was more extreme.

"Hello Nel," Orihime said softly as she sidled into the seat opposite Nel. Ikkaku took a seat on the table next to them. Nel stopped slurping the milk from her bowl of cereal and looked up curiously at Orihime. There was an awkward silence for about thirty seconds before Nel broke into a beaming smile,

"Halloooo!" she chirped, apparently warming to Orihime already, "who're you?"

"My name is Inoue Orihime, I'm going to be your new doctor."

Suddenly, Nel started laughing hysterically and Orihime had to pretend she didn't notice the flecks of Cheerio's that landed in front of her, "why are you laughing Nel?"

"Because...because..._you _can't be a doctor, where's your white coat that all the others wear?"

Orihime was about to answer, but it appeared that Nel wasn't finished wasn't finished talking.

"...and your boobies are too big."

Orihime blushed and couldn't help but glance sideways to see if Ikkaku had heard, judging by the fact that he was desperately trying, (and failing) to keep at straight face, Orihime guessed he had heard.

"Eh..ex..excuse me?" Orihime spluttered, "that's not something you're supposed to say Nel!"

"Why not?" Nel asked with obvious curiosity in her tone. It was only then when it occurred to Orihime that she hadn't really taken Unohana's words to heart, Nel didn't only _think _she was five year's old, she had about as much maturity and social sense a five year old could had, and Orihime realised she would have to treat her exactly how she would a five year old.

"Because, those are my private parts and you shouldn't talk about them in public. It's not polite. Didn't your parents ever teach you that?"

Nel shook her head, "Nooooo, Nel's brother's never tell me anything like _that_."

Orihime noticed how Nel had said "brothers" rather than "parents," and she made a mental note to discuss that with her when they finally had a session.

"So Nel, what do you do for fun around here?"

Nel immediately brightened up and Orihime suddenly understood what Unohana meant when she had said that Nel was hyperactive. She started speaking at one hundred miles and hour and she had an action for everything, at one point during their discussion Nel almost jumped on the table, but luckily Orihime managed to deter her away from this. Nel might think she was five years old and that a table could handle her body weight, but Orihime knew only to well that most tables couldn't handle a 23 year old jumping on them. They'd been talking for almost an hour when Ikkaku finally interrupted them, telling Orihime that she still had to meet Ulquiorra and Ichigo. Orihime was rather sad when she realised how long she'd been talking to Nel for, she was really enjoying her conversation with the hyperactive woman, it gave her a chance to finally be her.

"Oh, oh, oh, tell Ichi I said hi!" Nel had squeaked when Ikkaku said this.

"You know Ichigo?" Orihime asked with an eyebrow raised, she hadn't expected any of the patients to interact with each other, at her other jobs they had kept themselves to themselves. Nel began nodding her head madly again,

"Yup, Ichi's one of Nel's bestest friends!"

Orihime filed this away in her brain as another piece of useful information, she also found it interesting the way Nel would refer to herself in the third person. She stood up from the table and smiled brightly at Nel,

"Well it's been absolutely wonderful meeting you Nel-chan, and I'll be seeing you tomorrow, if you'd like that?"

"Yup, Nel would like that a lot. Buh bye, Ori-himaaaaaaaaay!" Nel sang and waved to Orihime's retreating figure. Orihime was still smiling when they left the cafeteria to go and find Ulquiorra,

"I like her," Orihime mused as she followed Ikkaku. Ikkaku made a grunting noise,

"Mhm, well it's hard _not _to like Nel, you'll probably be fine with her. Ulquiorra and Ichigo might give you some problems though,"

"What are your opinions on Ulquiorra and Ichigo, Ikkaku-san?" Orihime asked, thinking it would be helpful to have a non-professional's view on her new patients. Ikkaku was silent for a few moments before answering,

"Ulquiorra is a moody sonovabitch who spends practically all his time in his room and I don't like him. Unohana-sama said that there were some people here who are more or less incurable, and even though I'm no professional, I would say Ulquiorra would fit into that category. He doesn't speak or even try to socialise with the others here, but he's very smart. Watch what you say around him, he remembers everything and will twist it and use it against you when you least expect it."

Orihime nodded.

"I like Ichigo. He's a good guy, even if he is a rude jerk half the time, he's one of those people you can't help but like, ya know? His other guy though, he gives me the creeps. You remember what I told you about Grimmjow? Well Ichigo's other guy is one hundred times worse than that, he's unpredictable, rude, and extremely violent. I would advise you get the hell away from him if you're ever unlucky enough to meet him, which unfortunately you probably will."

_Ulquiorra is highly suicidal, and Ichigo is schizophrenic and has multiple personality disorder, and then I have Nel, who thinks she's a child, _Orihime couldn't help the small little grin that appeared on her face, she decided then and there that she wasn't leaving until she had cured these three people.

Ikkaku and Orihime found Ulquiorra sitting in his room, just as Ikkaku had said. Orihime knocked three times on the door and waited patiently for thirty seconds, after hearing no reply she knocked again and waited. This went on for at least another five minutes before Ikkaku sighed impatiently and thrust the door open, moaning about Orihime being "too god damn polite."

"Hello Ulquiorra-san," Orihime said brightly with a smile at the sullen looking man in front of her. He was sitting in his bed with an uninterested look on his face and a book in his ands that he didn't even appear to be reading. He looked up from his book and stared impassively at Orihime, not saying anything.

"Uh, I'm your new doctor, Inoue Orihime," she said with a little less confidence than she began with, she knew he was supposed to be quiet, but damn, she had at least expected him to say hello. Ulquiorra looked at her for a few more moments before sighing quietly and turning back to his book.

"Right, well, um, I just wanted to drop in so you know who I am, and I'll see you tomorrow for our first meeting. Goodbye Ulquiorra-san," Orihime waved hesitantly to him and quickly exited the room with Ikkaku close on her heels.

"Well that was..._different_," Orihime said, "I guess I didn't realise what you meant when you said he doesn't speak much. I thought he would at least say hello or something,"

"Nah, if you ask me, it's a waste of time trying to help him, I don't even know why Unohana-sama bothered putting you on his case."

"It's my job to try and help people Ikkaku-san, and I wouldn't be doing it properly if I gave up on Ulquiorra-san that easily. I'll break him, I definitely will!" she pumped her fist in the air and started walking with a renewed confidence that she had lost whilst visiting Ulquiorra, "so, where are we most likely to find Ichigo?"

Ikkaku shrugged, "anywhere really, he doesn't have a set schedule and just wanders about, we'll probably find him just by walking around, which is good because you need to know where everything is anyway."

* * *

They had walked around completely the whole hospital and they still hadn't found the mysterious Ichigo Kurosaki. Ikkaku had been moments away from calling someone else from security when he peered out of the window a breathed a sigh of relief.

"Found him," he told Orihime, motioning her over to the window he was standing at, "that's Ichigo, over there," he pointed to a large oak tree at the far end of the garden. Orihime squinted into the distance, all she could make out was a messy tuft of orange hair.

"How do you know it's him?"

"Trust me, it's him," Ikkaku rolled his eyes and then proceeded to direct Orihime down to the garden area where Ichigo currently was.

"I'm gonna go wait over here whilst you talk to Ichigo," Ikkaku pointed to a man dressed in the same uniform as he was when they finally reached the garden area, "remember what I told you though, if you think you're in any danger get away from him immediately!"

"I'll be fine Ikkaku-san, I'm just going to say hello," Orihime smiled slightly at the bald security guard and practically skipped away from him. Just as she had approached Nel and Ulquiorra tentatively, Orihime did the same with Ichigo, surveying him from a distance before she introduced herself. He was leaning against the large tree and seemed to be staring aimlessly into space. Orihime now understood how Ikkaku had managed to recognise Ichigo so well, his bright orange hair was unique and she couldn't imagine anyone else having the same colour, even hers wasn't that bright. From a distance she could see that he was well built and as she walked closer she noticed that he had a frown on his face. _I wonder what's wrong with him?_ She quietly and slowly inched forward, treating him as if he were a wild animal, liable to get scared and run away if she was too fast.

"Are you gonna stand there watching me all day?"

Orihime couldn't help the gasp that escaped from her lips when he spoke. He showed no signs that he even knew she was there, he hadn't once turned around, and even when he spoke he didn't turn and look at her. Orihime fought to hide the embarrassed blush she was now sporting at the fact that she had been caught essentially spying on him, and she quickly walked round so she was standing in front of him.

"Good afternoon, Ichigo-san!" she smiled brightly at him. Ichigo turned his head a fraction of a centimetre to look at the woman in front of him. He rose an eyebrow at her as he assessed her figure,

"Do I know you?" he asked, wondering who this woman was, she certainly didn't look like the type of people he'd come into contact with before at the hospital. _Maybe she's lost? _**But she knew your name. **Ichigo frowned, but as usual he ignored the extra thought that would occasionally crop up in a voice that was not his own.

"Yes! Well no...not yet you don't, my name is Inoue Orihime, and I'm your new doctor!"

Ichigo fought hard not to let his eyebrow's rise any further, like they were desperately trying to do in disbelief.

"What's wrong with Unohana? She was my doctor before."

"Nothing's wrong with Unohana-sama, I wasn't aware that she was handling your case before me, but she's assigned me to you now, so-"

Ichigo drowned out what she was saying. _I liked Unohana, she didn't pry too much. _**Yeah, but this one's prettier. A lot prettier. **Ichigo heard the familiar dark cackle in the recesses of his mind, and he felt a low and feral growl build up in his throat.

"Shut up," he growled at the voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry,"

"Huh?" he turned to his left and saw Orihime had chosen to sit down next to him and now she was twiddling her fingers and looking slightly embarrassed. That was when he realised he had spoken aloud,

"Ah crap, no, I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to...I was talking to...to myself," he muttered bitterly, already starting to feel a familiar anger rise up in his stomach at Orihime's 'understanding' gaze.

"You hear voices? Don't you Ichigo-san?" she said quietly, still twiddling her fingers together next to him.

"No. I hear a voice. One voice," he grimaced and stood up, "I'm going back inside now. It was nice meeting you Inoue," he turned and nodded at her briefly before sticking his hands in his jean pocket and walking off. He briefly recalled hearing her call out, "goodbye Ichigo-san, I'll see you tomorrow!" _Great, _he thought dejectedly to himself, a new doctor who would question him for hours on end, trying to find the cause of his 'problems.' He already knew the cause of his problems, and he didn't feel like reliving the past with some strange woman he had just met.

**AUTHORS NOTE: **Hello, howdy, bonjour; I didn't expect to get many reviews at all, but I did and that made me really happy, so thank you for reviewing, favouriting, and alerting this story. If you wouldn't mind repeating what you've done and give me some feedback on this chapter, that would be great. Thanks.


	3. Tales of the Past

**Summary:**Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital, a place for those deemed insane and beyond help. Can one determined healer prove them wrong and heal the one she loves?  
**Genre:**Romance/Hurt/Comfort/Angst [possible humor]  
**Warnings:**AU/Sex/Language/Mature Themes  
**Pairings:**Ichigo and Orihime

**AUTHORS NOTE:**Hello to anyone reading this, I don't really have much to say except that I hope you enjoy it, oh and thanks for reading this.

**A Schizophrenics Love**

**Chapter 3:**Tales of the Past

Orihime was sitting curled up on her sofa with her nose stuffed in a large manila file, and she had been for the past three hours. Before she left the hospital after her first day at work she had grabbed Nel's, Ulquiorra's, and Ichigo's files, in an attempt to get to know them a bit better before she started formally working on their cases. It was almost midnight and so far she had only read Nel and Ulquiorra's files and she was determined to read Ichigo's before she went to bed. Her roommate came home just after midnight and was shocked to see Orihime was still awake reading the files.

"Hime? What are you doing?"

"Hey Tatsuki-chan, how was your date?" Orihime smiled up at her best friend, who was now sporting a healthy blush. Tatsuki grinned before flicking off her heels and collapsing next to Orihime on the sofa.

"It was...fun," Tatsuki said carefully choosing the right words, "but never mind me, how was your first day at work? At what the hell are you still doing up now?"

Orihime began explaining her day in great detail to Tatsuki, careful not to miss anything out, "...so now I'm just reading my patient files so I know what I'm dealing with."

Tatsuki yawned, "sounds great Hime, but I really think you should get to bed," she stretched a stood up, planning on going to bed herself. Although Orihime and she were the same age, Tatsuki had always had a fierce need to look after and protect her best friend. However, Orihime shook her head and waved a thick file in Tatsuki's face,

"I just need to read this one file, it won't take me too long."

Tatsuki nodded, "alright Hime, see ya tomorrow."

"Night, Tatsuki-chan," Orihime muttered quietly as she opened the file belonging to Ichigo Kurosaki. She skimmed through the introductory paragraphs, only really stopping to acknowledge his age,

"He's my age, 21, and he's been there for five years," she did the Math quickly in her head, "since he was 16 years old, poor Ichigo-san," although Seireitei Psychiatric seemed to be a nice place, she couldn't imagine someone having to live there for five years, especially a teenager. She flipped over a page and carried on reading:

_BACKGROUND: Ichigo was sent to the hospital when he was 16 years old. His father, Isshin Kurosaki, checked him in after fears that his son was "deranged." Allegedly, he had been hearing voices for a year or so and it was only recently his family became worried about him. It was found out in later sessions that Ichigo's mother was killed in front of him when he was 9 years old, [possible traumatic affect on later life?] Ichigo alone is easy to deal with, he prefers to be alone and dislikes talking with others apart from family members and a few patients. His other personality seems to be the complete opposite. He craves attention and often uses violence to get this. He is rude and vulgar, however, Ichigo had gotten better at controlling this side of him. _

_EPISODES OF CONCERN:_

_June 17__th __2005: Ichigo was brought to the hospital by his father; he was in an almost uncontrollable rage and had to be apprehended by four security guards before he was heavily sedated. It should be noted that when questioned the following day; he claimed not to remember any of this._

_June 30__th__ 2005: Ichigo attacked several security guards and severely injured one; once again it took four security guards to apprehend him before he was heavily sedated. When questioned the following day; he again claimed not to remember any of this._

_December 24__th__ 2005: Ichigo's family visited him and took him out for a Christmas meal. It is unknown what happened exactly, but Ichigo was brought back to the hospital within hours in another almost uncontrollable rage and covered in blood. Judging by the various open wounds, one can assume that is was his own blood._

_May 12__th__ 2006: Ichigo was heard sobbing and arguing to himself in his room. When questioned, he denied this and refused to talk to anyone for a week._

_June 17__th__ 2006: Ichigo was involved in an altercation with patient; Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. It is unknown why the fight was started. It should be noted that Ichigo remembers this fight clearly. _

_August 17__th__ 2006: Once again, Ichigo was heard arguing with himself in his bedroom. This time he admitted to this but would not divulge what he was arguing about, or who he was arguing with._

_October 01__st__ 2006: Ichigo was once again involved in an altercation with patient; Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. Witnesses state that Grimmjow advanced on Ichigo's youngest sister, Yuzu Kurosaki, and Ichigo attacked him. Ichigo does not remember this fight._

_June 01__st__ 2007: Ichigo attempted to commit suicide. He was found lying on the floor in his room with a slit wrist, the medics who found him state he was screaming abuse at himself and he did not stop until they sedated him. Ichigo was put on suicide watch for two weeks._

_June 17__th__ 2007: Ichigo refused to leave his room for a week. When questioned as to why he chose to do this he gave no answer. _

_April 01__st__ 2008: Ichigo was found in patient; Nelliel Tu Odelschwank's room in a compromising position. When asked what he was doing there the next day, Ichigo claim's not to remember._

_June 01__st__ – 17__th__ 2008: Ichigo was involved in an altercation with patients; Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez and Yammy Riyalgo. It is unknown what sparked this altercation since both Jaegerjaquez and Riyalgo refused to say and Ichigo claims not to remember. Ichigo spent the duration of the dates above in the ICU Unit. _

_January 01__st__ 2009: Ichigo suffered a breakdown during a session with Dr. Unohana. When the subject of his mother was brought up and at first he refused to talk, but after some coercion he began talking about his mother. This lasted about five minutes before he broke down. He adopted the foetal position and began crying. After about thirty seconds the crying abruptly ceased and he began screaming profanities at himself. He had to be sedated after this._

_May 29__th__ 2008: Ichigo and Head of Security; Kenpachi Zaraki were involved in an altercation. Zaraki and Ichigo were both found in a near unconscious state. It is unknown what caused the fight though both Ichigo and Zaraki have both said it was "for fun." Zaraki was suspended for two weeks following the altercation and Ichigo has full recollection of it._

_June 17__th__ 2008: Ichigo refused to leave his room all day. He somehow managed to jam his bed up against the door making it difficult to open. Whilst security tried to open the door, they heard Ichigo pacing the room and screaming profanities to him self, referring to someone called "King." When questioned about this, Ichigo refused to comment._

_July 15__th__ 2008: Ichigo's family came to visit for his birthday. Ichigo was involved in an altercation with his father. He fully remembers the altercation and says his father deserved it. It should be noted that both Ichigo and Isshin were severely bruised._

_February 21__st__ 2009: Ichigo attempted to commit suicide once again. He was found in the garden with both wrists' slit; once again, the medics who found him found him screaming abuse and profanities at himself and someone he kept referring to as "King." He was put on suicide watch for one month. When asked who this "King" is, Ichigo say's he isn't sure what I'm talking about._

_June 17__th__ 2009: Upon seeing a news report regarding "The Grand Fisher," [the name of the psychopath who killed his mother], Ichigo flew into a rage. It took five security guards and twice the usual dose of Valium to sedate Ichigo. Ichigo claims not to remember any of this._

Orihime let out a deep breath she hadn't even realised she had been holding. She picked up her highlighter and began underlining several key dates, _June 17__th_; _something always seems to happen on June 17__th__._

* * *

Orihime sat patiently on one of the two sofa's in her new office, she was waiting for her last patient of the day. Ichigo. In the morning she had a meeting with Ulquiorra. She grimaced as she thought of how "well" that had gone. At first she had sat in silence with him, trying to show him that she was respectful of the fact that he didn't like to talk much. She did this in the hopes that he would gain some trust with her, but no such luck. In the end she ended up talking about her life while he just listened with a bored look on his face. Well, she thought he was listening, but she supposed she would never know really. Her meeting with Nel was much better. They had spent at least two hours painting pictures in Orihime's office. Orihime originally did it in the hopes that Nel would draw something that could show her exactly why she had regressed into a five year old so to speak, but in the end she had become as engrossed in the painting as Nel had. Her white doctors coat was now speckled with orange and green dots, she hoped Ichigo wouldn't notice. Just as she was beginning to wonder whether Ichigo would actually show up, she had a knock on the door.

"Come in!"

Ichigo walked into her office and surveyed it with confusion, this...wasn't what he was used to. He was used to walking in Unohana's traditional office with a desk and some chairs and a bookshelf. Orihime's office looked more like a playroom than anything else. There were several bean bags littered around the room and a large blue circular table that was littered with colouring pens and paint. He glanced over to the window and saw there were several extremely wet pictures hanging from the blinds, it looked like a toddler had been to over excited with the paint set. Orihime saw where he was looking and she couldn't help but giggle nervously,

"Ah, sorry about the mess. I was painting with Nel-chan before and I haven't had the chance to tidy up yet. Um, you can sit down if you want?"

"Oh," Ichigo said as he side stepped the bean bags and moved to sit on the only other sofa in the room, _that explains the mess_, he thought.

"So Ichigo-san, how are you today?" Orihime said in her usual chipper tone. Ichigo shrugged and said nothing but this didn't stop Orihime, she continued on talking as if he had replied,

"Good. Good. Nel-chan tells me you and her are pretty good friends?"

Ichigo shrugged again, not really understanding what she wanted him to say to that. And her voice was annoying him, she sounded so damn happy all the time, _what is there to be so happy about? _**Her rack? I'd be pretty happy if I had a rack like hers. **Ichigo winced and tried to ignore the voice.

"Do you like Nel-chan?"

Ichigo frowned, wondering what that had to do with anything, "I guess so, she's a good kid."

Orihime raised an eyebrow, "a kid? She's 23 years old, Ichigo-san,"

"You know what I mean," Ichigo huffed, "she thinks she's five years old, so let her think she's five, she's not doing anyone any harm."

"She's doing _herself _harm, you shouldn't encourage it."

Ichigo scowled at her, "I thought this was supposed to be about me? Why are you asking me about Nel?"

It was Orihime's turn to shrug this time, "I got the impression that you didn't want to talk about yourself."

"Smart."

Orihime leant forward a little bit and surveyed the man in front of her, she wasn't sure what it was, but there was something about him that made her want to get closer to him, she wanted to find out what was wrong with him. It was like she could feel his soul, and his soul was shattering into a million pieces over and over again, she felt an overwhelming urge to hold him and stop him from shattering.

"Well what do you want to talk about? Just tell me and we'll talk about that," Orihime said softly, she already had to sit through silence with Ulquiorra and she definitely wasn't going to do that with Ichigo. Ichigo said nothing for a few moments,

"I want to talk about you."

"Me? Okay...ask me anything."

**Ask her what her favourite position is? **

Ichigo winced and tried to suppress the voice, "what made you decide to work in a place like this? You don't seem like the sort of person who would choose to work in this sort of environment. I dunno, I would picture you as a teacher or something."

Orihime said nothing, her eyes sort of glazed over and a depressed look fell over her face.

"Uh..you don't _have _to tell me...I was just wondering," Ichigo stammered, wondering what had caused the sudden mood change in Orihime. One minute she was acting as if she had just one the lottery, the next she was acting like someone had died. Orihime shook her head,

"No, I told you that you can ask me anything, I have to honour what I say, otherwise I would be a terrible doctor," Orihime took a deep breath and tried to control the faint tremor that threatened to appear in her voice, "when I was younger...my brother tried to kill me. Don't get me wrong, I loved my Sora-nii a lot, and I know he loved me. He looked after me for most of my life, protecting me against everything. But he got sick..very sick...it was like every day he was alive he lost a little bit of himself. It was a living hell for him...torture," Orihime peeked up at Ichigo from underneath her eyelids, he was staring at her with an emotion she couldn't quite place, "Sora-nii was really ill, and the doctors told us straight away that he wasn't going to live. I was only about ten back then and all I wanted to do was make Sora-nii better, I stopped going to school...I would just stay at home and look after him. One day, I walked into his room and he was spitting blood, lot's and lot's of blood. He was drowning on his own blood. I ran over to help him and the next finger I remember is him towering over me with a bloodied knife in his hand. That's when I realised he had stabbed himself, right in the liver. He started shouting at me then, he said we needed to be together. He said that _I _needed to die with him, so we could be together for ever. He said it wasn't fair for him to die and leave me. I needed to die as well. He tried to stab be then, right here," she pointed to the part of your neck where it meets the collar bone and she laughed grimly, "but I guess he was too weak because he fell forwards and completely missed me. He died a few minutes later. It was then that I decided I would devote my life to healing people who are ill in the same way my brother was, because I know only too well how torturous it can be." Orihime sniffed and used the back of her coat to wipe away the tears that had fallen whilst she told her story.

**Aww look Kingy, you made her cry. **

_I can see that._

"I..Inoue?" Ichigo asked tentatively with one hand scratching the back of his hair, something he had started doing in awkward situations, "I'm sorry. I...I shouldn't have asked about that..."

Orihime shook her head again and smiled at Ichigo through her tears, "no Ichigo-san, I told you that you could ask me anything. I don't talk about my brother enough anyway, if he were watching me he might think I've forgotten about him."

"But he obviously brings up bad memories, so why would you want to talk about him?"

"I told you, I love Sora-nii with all my heart. What he did near the end was just _one _bad memory amongst a million amazing ones. You can't let one bad memory keep you from moving forward in your life."

Ichigo frowned and thought about his own life, "its different with me though."

"How?"

Ichigo said nothing, instead he stood up abruptly and walked to the door.

"...where are you going Ichigo-san?"

Ichigo pointed to the small clock she had on her wall, "times up."

Orihime felt a bit disheartened, she really thought they were making progress, "oh, okay...see you tomorrow Ichigo-san."

Ichigo grunted as he put his hand on the door, he paused briefly and muttered, "because it was my fault," before quickly walking away and slamming the door behind him. Orihime was confused for a matter of seconds before she realised that he had answered her question.

"_It's different with me though?"_

"_How?"_

"_...because it was my fault."_

_

* * *

_

**AUTHORS NOTE: **Yes, I update rather fast, just because I like to write down my ideas as they pop into my brain, otherwise I forget them. Thank you for the reviews etc, they make me so happy ^_^ Bye bye.


	4. Split Personality

**Summary:**Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital, a place for those deemed insane and beyond help. Can one determined healer prove them wrong and heal the one she loves?  
**Genre:**Romance/Hurt/Comfort/Angst [possible humor]  
**Warnings:**AU/Sex/Language/Mature Themes  
**Pairings:**Ichigo and Orihime

**AUTHORS NOTE:**Hello to anyone reading this, I don't really have much to say except that I hope you enjoy it, oh and thanks for reading this.

**A Schizophrenics Love**

**Chapter 4:**Split Personality

Orihime tapped her foot patiently as she waited for Ichigo for their next session. She was actually looking forward to it, she felt yesterday's session had shown him that she could be trusted, and he could tell her what he was thinking. That wasn't the only reason she was looking forward to the session was so that she would actually be able to have a proper conversation with someone. Unfortunately, Nel's session with her had been cancelled that day due to the fact that Nel's two brothers had come to visit her, so that had just left Orihime with Ulquiorra and Ichigo. Her session with Ulquiorra had been more or less the same as yesterday; he had sat in silence just "listening" to Orihime ramble on about a new recipe she had invented the night before. The only difference in their session was at the end when Orihime had produced some new books for Ulquiorra to read.

"_I remembered you were reading when we first met, so I thought you would like some new material. The library here isn't that big and you must've read everything already,"_

_Orihime passed three thick books to the silent man with a smile on her face. Ulquiorra looked at them for a few moments, flipping them back to front and examining the front cover and blurb._

"_Thank you," he muttered in a raspy and quiet voice before standing up and leaving the room._

Orihime grimaced to herself now as she remembered how she had been too flabbergasted at the fact that he had actually spoken to respond to him. Sure it was only two words, but it was progress. She made a mental note to bring him books whenever she could and perhaps ask him about the books if that would get a reaction out of him. She was still musing about her session with Ulquiorra when her door was roughly slammed open. She jumped a little and looked up at the door.

"Ichigo-san, what're you doing?" she asked as he again roughly slammed the door shut. Ichigo turned around and faced Orihime with a sadistic smile on his face,

"Do I fucking look like _Ichigo-san_?" he spat as he quickly strode across the room and threw himself into the sofa opposite Orihime, "well do I _Hime-chan_?"

Orihime frowned at the nickname and carefully surveyed the man in front of her. He looked exactly like Ichigo, but something told Orihime that the man she was looking at was not Ichigo at all. She briefly remembered Ikkaku's advice regarding Ichigo's other personality, but she pushed it away, she wasn't in any harm...yet.

"No...no you don't look like Ichigo-san," she said slowly, humouring him, "do you have a name?"

He made a disgusted sounding noise, "what do I need a name for? I'm not King. Only King needs a name."

"But I need to call you something. How else can we talk?"

"We're talking now ain't we? And I already told you _Hime-chan_, I don't need a name. Not until I become King. When I'm King I'll tell you my name."

Orihime nodded stiffly, still trying to figure out what to say to him, she had definitely _not _been expecting this. He was half sitting, half lying across the sofa with his arms stretched out along the back and his legs stretched open directly in front of her. He was grinning at her and occasionally licking his lips. Orihime had to fight the shudder that threatened to coarse through her body.

"Where is Ichigo?" she said quietly, immediately kicking herself mentally for the lack of authority and control in her tone, _always appear like you know what you're doing...even if you don't_. The grin he had been wearing on his face vanished immediately, and a scowl replaced it. It was completely different to Ichigo's normal scowl however, this scowl actually seemed to have some malice behind it.

"He's locked up. Stupid bastard, always crying and moaning about shit. The fool doesn't deserve to be King."

_This personality refers to Ichigo as 'King,' _Orihime noted to herself as she remembered how in his file nobody had actually known who 'King' was.

"What do you mean by 'he's locked up'?"

"Are you stupid Hime-chan? You're a doctor, you're supposed to be smart! I mean what I say...he's locked up. I locked him away cause he was being a pussy. It's your fault ya know? He was getting better...he was getting a bit stronger...but then you come along and turn him into a weak ass piece of shit again," he shrugged his shoulders and grinned at Orihime again, "but who gives a fuck? It just means I can get out more."

Orihime chose to ignore his colourful choice of language, he had said something that interested her, "what did you mean when you said it was my fault? What was my fault?"

He rolled his eyes and sighed in exasperation, "you're pretty slow ain't ya?"

Orihime blushed, "no I'm not, you're just not explaining yourself!" she answered back indignantly, not appreciating being called slow by him.

"Yesterday...when you were spouting your pathetic sob story you got King thinking about his own pathetic life. He was thinking about mummy dearest all day after seeing you yesterday. King even had a dream about her last night. I knew what was gonna happen before it even happened...cause it _always _happens...he's such a predictable fuck."

"What happened?" Orihime asked, she was pretty sure he wasn't getting to the point just to annoy her.

"Oooh impatient are we?" he sniggered. Orihime said nothing except give him her best unimpressed look until he started speaking again.

"King woke up this morning crying. _I'm sorry mum, I'm sorry..._blah blah blah. I'm tired of his _shit_! What kinda man cries about shit like that? He's a fucking pussy...why the fuck is _he _King? I should be King! He was pissing me off with all his depressive crap...I had to take charge ya know? If you let him get too depressed he does something stupid...like slit his fucking wrists! He wants to die ya know? But I'm not letting him...when I get outta here, _then _he can die...I'll even kill him...but for now he can't die. I need him. I hate it...but he's King...I'm just a fucking Horse."

There was silence in the room as Orihime pondered on what she had just heard.

"So, you come out whenever you feel Ichigo-san is being weak...or he is in danger of losing his life?" Orihime asked, realising that this was in correlation of what she had read in his file.

"Pfft. You make it sound like I'm his fucking guardian angel or some shit like that. Listen Hime-chan, I don't do it for him, I already told ya didn't I...if I didn't need him to survive he'd be dead. I'm strictly about survival baby."

Orihime couldn't help but blush at his use of the word "baby," and he noticed straight away.

"You're blushing _Hime-chan_," he said in a sing song type of voice. Before Orihime even had a chance to try and deny the fact that she was indeed blushing, he had quickly moved so he was standing in front of her with a leer on his face.

"Why were you blushing Hime-chan?" he said in a voice that sounded almost adoring, he crouched down a little bit so he was on level with Orihime and he brought his lips to her ear, "hm _Hime-chan_?" he muttered as he brought one hand up to slowly caress her face. Orihime felt her blush deepen when his warm breath floated slowly in her ear and around her face and she downright gasped when she felt his rough hand smoothly stroking her face.

"I..Ich..Ichigo-san, stop this now!" she stammered in what she hoped was a tone that demanded respect. Instead of loosening the hold on her face he suddenly pressed down harder and forced her face to turn and face his own,

"I told you Hime-chan...I'm not _Ichigo-san_, got it?"

Orihime nodded in obedience, she knew it was impossible and that it was probably the lighting in the room playing a trick on her. But when she looked into his eyes she saw dark yellow instead of the warm chocolate brown she would recognise as Ichigo's. The man in front of her was definitely not Ichigo. She quietly and stealthily started to worm her way down her side and into the pocket of her white doctors coat, well she thought she was being quiet and stealthily, apparently not because he immediately sighed and dove his own hand into her pocket before she had the chance.

"No, Hime-chan, I'm not done with you yet," he said softly as he chucked the walkie-talkie Orihime had been reaching for behind him and out of her grasp, "aren't you having fun _Hime-chan_?"

Orihime said nothing, instead she was mentally cursing herself for not listening to Ikkaku's advice to get away from Ichigo's alter ego as soon as possible. She thought briefly about yelling for help, but then decided that would not be the best course of action with him standing so close to her, and with such a firm grip on her neck.

"You're scared Hime-chan, you shouldn't be scared. I'm not gonna hurt you," he said quietly as he lowered his head down towards the base of her neck so his lips were just hovering above her skin.

"I'm not...I'm not scared," she lied. He obviously saw through her lie because he began to chuckle darkly,

"Not scared huh? Don't lie to me Hime-chan, I can feel your blood under your skin...and it's racing,"

Before Orihime had a chance to react she felt something moist clasp onto her neck and then something sharp press down. She gasped and clenched her hand into a tiny fist before punching him in the stomach to try and get him away. Unfortunately her little 'attack' didn't have the desired result, instead of hurting him she ended up with a throbbing fist due to the fact that she had collided with his rock like abs. However it did cause him to stop with his ministrations on her neck,

"Ya tryna hurt me Hime-chan?"

"You _bit _me!" Orihime yelled, still trying to push him off her, "get _off_!"

Her actions only seemed to humour him, instead of getting off Orihime he did the exact opposite, he used his knee to pry open her firmly closed legs and he pushed himself further to her so their bodies were pressed together,

"He doesn't like it when I touch you," he purred, once again stroking the side of her face, "he's yelling at me. That's a change, normally he sits back and lets me have my fun...I wonder..."

"What are you ta- Ichigo-san!" Orihime gasped as she felt a hand snake around her inner thigh, she thanked God that she had chosen to wear trousers that day.

"I'm not gonna tell you again Hime-chan, I'm _not _fucking Ichigo," he brought his hand higher up her thigh and squeezed tightly, "nope...he definitely doesn't like this."

Orihime could feel the tears welling up in her eyes at every inch he gained on her thigh, she was the doctor here, she was supposed to be in charge; this wasn't supposed to be how it worked. She couldn't help the dry sob that escaped her lips when she felt his fingers brush across the zipper of her trousers. His hand stopped moving on her thigh. He used his other hand to cup her face again and turn it towards his own face.

"You're crying Hime-chan," he muttered before making one of his fingers dart out and capture one of her tears on the tip of his finger. He stared at the tear for a milli second before putting his finger in his mouth and tasting her tear, "you taste nice Hime-chan..." he stopped talking and look of pain spasmed across his face, "no. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO.!" He shouted repeatedly, his grip on Orihime's thigh tightening, "this my time, King! MY TIME! FUCK _OFF!_"

Orihime opened her mouth to say something, but her throat was dry and she couldn't form any words, all she could was watch in fear as the man before her began screaming at himself and shaking violently. Her heart was racing but she couldn't bring herself to do anything except watch. After a few moments he stopped screaming and shouting and thrashing around, the only sign he gave Orihime that he was still alive was the fact that he was breathing heavily.

"I..I..Ichigo-san?" Orihime whispered timidly, preparing herself for him to yell at her and correct her again. He slowly lifted his head and looked at her square in the eye, Orihime let out a sigh of relief. She was staring into light chocolate coloured eyes, Ichigo was back. He looked exhausted, he had bags under his eyes and his wild bangs were doused in sweat and clinging to his forehead. His eyes flickered from his hand still clasped firmly on her thigh, to her tear stained cheeks, and then finally to the large purplish bruise that was forming on her neck. A look of remorse flickered across his features,

"Inoue...I...arghhhh!"

Orihime's eyes opened in panic as Ichigo suddenly went stiff before sliding off of her and landing in a heap on the floor. She glanced up,

"Ikkaku-san!" she breathed as she saw the familiar bald security guard with his taser gun in his hands.

"Are you alright Inoue-san?"

"H..Hai, I'm fine," she said, crouching over Ichigo's still body and checking his pulse, "is _he _going to be alright?"

"Huh? Yeah, he'll be fine, it wasn't a very strong shock, he'll only be out for an hour or so. Inoue-san?"

"Yes Ikkaku-san?"

"Are you sure you're alright? He didn't do anything, did he?" Ikkaku's eyes roamed Orihime's body and finally settled on the visible bruise that was forming on the base of her neck. Orihime followed his line of sight and realised what he was looking at. Blushing, she pulled the collar of her coat upwards slightly so it was hiding the bruise,

"I said I'm _fine_, Ikkaku-san. Now, shouldn't you be calling for a medic or something?"

Ikkaku frowned at Orihime one last time, wondering why on Earth she was covering for Ichigo, before shrugging and picking up his walkie-talkie.

* * *

Orihime bit her bottom lip as she quickly walked down the empty corridor. She was second guessing herself, wondering if she was doing the right thing. It was 9pm and she should have been safely in her car driving back to her apartment to sit and eat some red bean lasagne. But she was still at the hospital. Her destination? Ichigo Kurosaki's room. Truthfully, she wasn't sure exactly why she felt the need to talk to him, especially after what had gone on in her office that afternoon. But there was something, something in his eyes when he finally looked at her that told her she needed to see him before she left that night. It had become quite a problem trying to hide her bruise throughout the rest of the day and she was glad that for whatever reason, Ikkaku hadn't asked her about it again. In the end she had ended up taking her hair out of the bun it was in, and letting it hang loose, carefully positioned so it hid the bruise on her neck pretty well.

"Room 15, Ichigo-san's room," she whispered to herself as she stood outside the door marked with the number 15. She could see some light filtering through the bottom of the door so she knew he was awake. She took a deep, calming breath before knocking on the door three times. She briefly wondered if he would be like Ulquiorra and not answer at all, but the need not have wondered because soon after she knocked she heard his deep voice ring out,

"Yeah? Come in."

She slowly and hesitantly twisted the door handle and pushed it open, she didn't even wait for him to acknowledge who it was before she walked briskly into the room and gently shut the door behind her.

"Hello Ichigo-san," she said shyly when she finally looked at him. He was sitting on his bed with a book in his hand, in a similar fashion she had first found Ulquiorra in. Three emotions passed through his face in a matter of seconds after looking at her. Shock that she was in his room. Fear, that he had done some long lasting damage to her. And finally, revulsion, but not at her...at himself.

"Inoue, I'm sorry about this afternoon. I-"

Orihime cut him off as she walked across the room and sat gently on the other end of the bed, "I knew you were going to try and apologise for that. But I don't want you to."

Ichigo's brow furrowed in confusion, "you don't? But I hurt you!" as if to empathise this point for Orihime he suddenly stood up and walked over in front of her, "see!" he gently tugged back her hair to reveal the dark bruise that had formed on her neck. He grimaced as his fingers brushed over the bruise and felt several tiny bite marks around the bruise. Orihime ignored him and pulled her hair back over the bruise.

"No, _you _didn't hurt me Ichigo-san, you-"

Ichigo groaned and flung himself back on the bed next to her, "I'm sick of hearing that bull. I'm sick of people telling me that things aren't my fault because _he _was in control. We're the same thing. If he does something, it's my fault!"

"I wasn't going to say that."

"You weren't?"

Orihime blushed, "well I was, but that wasn't the main part of what I was going to say though!" she started waving her arms furiously in front of her face when he rose his eyebrows at her.

"Well, what were you going to say then?"

"I was just going to say that you didn't hurt me, you saved me."

Ichigo scoffed and leaned back on his head so he was leaning against the wall, "I didn't save you. Ikkaku would've been in there within a few minutes anyway."

Orihime shook her head and turned to face him with earnest eyes, "who knows what could've happened in those few minutes? All I know is, I was scared...very scared...I wasn't in control of the situation and I didn't know what to do. Then, you came back, you took control and I know that must've been hard for you to do, so I just wanted to say thank you Ichigo-san. Thank you for saving me."

Ichigo rolled his eyes, "I told you, I didn't save you," he muttered, though Orihime noticed the corners of his mouth were turned up in a slight grin.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Ichigo-san," she said with her own little grin before walking out of his room.

* * *

**AUTHORS NOTE: **Hello, I really liked writing this chapter, not sure why, I just really liked it. So anyway, thank you to you lovely faithful reviewers, keep doing what you're doing ^_^


	5. Impulse

**Summary:**Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital, a place for those deemed insane and beyond help. Can one determined healer prove them wrong and heal the one she loves?  
**Genre:**Romance/Hurt/Comfort/Angst [possible humor]  
**Warnings:**AU/Sex/Language/Mature Themes  
**Pairings:**Ichigo and Orihime

**AUTHORS NOTE:**Hello to anyone reading this, I don't really have much to say except that I hope you enjoy it, oh and thanks for reading this. Warning for this chapter, I personally think Nel is OOC in this chapter, so just brace yourselves.

**A Schizophrenics Love**

**Chapter 5:**Impulse

"Rukia called yesterday while you were at work," Tatsuki said casually as she walked into the kitchen to find Orihime hurriedly washing her breakfast dishes. Orihime turned to smile at her friend,

"Morning Tatsuki-chan; how is Rukia-chan?"

"She's fine, she was just calling to ask if we're still going tomorrow...I told her we are, alright Hime?"

Orihime finished drying her last plate and stuck it on the drying rack, "I don't know Tatsuki-chan, I'm really busy with work and stuff."

Tatsuki made a disgusted sounding noise, "don't try that with me Hime, you've been working there for two months straight, you need a break from that mad house! Sorry," Tatsuki added quickly after noticing the reproachful look Orihime gave her when she said 'mad house', "all I'm saying is, you need a break, and when was the last time you saw Rukia or Renji? Hm?"

"I don't know Tatsuki-chan, where are we meant to be going?" Orihime asked as she dashed around the apartment looking for her missing shoe.

"Ah, Rukia said something about that new restaurant that opened down town and then the fireworks display that's happening in the park."

Orihime groaned, "I don't think so, I'll just be on my own the whole evening!"

"What? No you won't, the whole point is that we have a little reunion, we haven't seen each other in ages, why would you be left alone?"

"Rukia-chan and Renji-kun will be together, and you and Uryu-kun will be together. I'll just be a fifth wheel," Tatsuki opened her mouth to argue back, but Orihime cut her off, "I'll think about it, okay Tatsuki-chan? But I really need to get going now or I'll be late! Bye!" Orihime waved wildly to Tatsuki once more before darting out the door. Tatsuki half heartedly waved back, she really wanted Orihime to come with them.

* * *

Orihime leant against a tree in the garden, the tree she had met Ichigo under, and slowly pried open her container which held her lunch. It was barely midday and already she wanted to go home. In the two months working at Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital, she could safely say that today had been her worst. Nel had had a relapse and Orihime had finally learnt what Unohana had meant when she said Nel had a terrible temper. It had started off perfectly fine; Nel's two older adopted brothers had come to visit her so Orihime took the opportunity to get to know them a little better and hopefully find out about Nel's past.

"_So you two aren't Nel's blood brothers? When did you meet her?"_

"_That's right. We first met Nel when she came to the foster home we were also living in. She was about fourteen then. We lived together for a few years, but then our foster mother died. Nel was seventeen then so she could've technically moved out on her own. But because of her..._condition_...the social servicing authority wanted to put her back in care. You have to understand, Nel sees us as her real brothers, we couldn't just abandon her like that. So we filed for adoption and adopted her into our little family, and we've told her she's our younger sister," the older brother, Pesche, had informed Orihime._

"_So Nel-chan already thought she was five years old when you met her? Do you have any idea what happened to her that could have caused her regression?"_

_Dondachakka began nodding immediately, "Of course we know, we're her legal guardians technically, we've read all her files."_

"_Nel's father was extremely abusive towards her, her mother died giving birth to her and it seems he never forgave Nel for that. Nel had suffered his abuse for fourteen years of her life, but the final straw was that night. We don't know exactly what happened because obviously Nel couldn't...or wouldn't tell, and her father vanished after that, but Nel was found in the middle of the street with several wounds and one almost fatal head wound. She was in the hospital for a month, and when she came to us she was how she is now."_

_Orihime nodded to herself, _she's blocking out the traumatic experience of abuse and hiding behind the mask of a five year old. _Orihime had another question to ask the brothers, but a screeching sound made her lose her train of thought and turn around. Nel, who had been previously drawing a picture, was lying in the foetal position clawing at her head. _

"_Nnoitra-otosan!" she moaned as she rocked back and forth on the floor, still tugging at her hair, "OTOSAN!" Orihime immediately jumped up from her seat and ran to the troubled woman._

"_Nel-chan? Nel-chan, what's the matter?" she asked with an alarmed expression on her face, she could hear her brothers running up behind her to find out what was wrong with their sister, "Nel-chan?" she said once again, extending her hand out to rub the girls shoulder. That was where she made her mistake. The second Orihime touched Nel's shoulder, Nel lashed out and scraped her finger nails down Orihime's arm,_

"_DON'T TOUCH ME OTOSAN!" she screamed, trying to pounce on Orihime and claw at her face, "DON'T TOUCH ME!" Orihime jumped back just in time, as Nel was ready to go in for another attack. As Orihime jumped away, Nel regained her foetal position and began rocking and muttering quietly to herself. Orihime turned and shot both Pesche and Dondachakka a questioning look, they both looked just as alarmed as she did, but thankfully Pesche was able to shed some light on the situation,_

"_She heard us talking about him. She get's like this when she hears us talking about him."_

"_What did he do to her?" Orihime wondered aloud, "alright, Dondachakka-san, can you go out there and find a nurse and tell them what's happened, they'll know what to do."_

_Dondachakka nodded once more before waddling out of the door to find some help. Orihime took a deep breath and turned back to Nel._

"_Nel-chan?" she said tentatively as she inched closer and closer to Nel, "Nel-chan, it's me, Orihime...do you remember me?"_

_Nel stopped moaning and cry and looked up at Orihime. Orihime had a tiny bit of hope that Nel was regaining some of her senses, but that hope was extinguished once Orihime got a good look at Nel's eyes. They were glazed over and unfocussed, as if there was no sane life behind them. Orihime gulped, but forced her fear away, _

"_Nel-chan, you need to calm down, come on, take my hand and we can go and paint some more pictures, would you like that?" _

_Nel looked at Orihime's outstretched hand with a look of wonder for a few seconds, before she snarled loudly and pushed Orihime away roughly, "you can't trick me Otosan. YOU CAN'T TRICK ME ANYMORE!" she pounced on top of Orihime, "why Otosan?" she mumbled before collapsing on top of Orihime sobbing relentlessly. _

Orihime sighed loudly once she finished recalling the disastrous session with Nel. She had lain on top of Orihime for another five minutes crying loudly before Dondachakka returned with several nurses who then sedated Nel and brought her back to her room. Orihime lifted her left arm and gently ran her finger across the four long scratch marks that started at the crease in her elbow and ended at her wrist.

"Nel-chan..." Orihime mused softly, "I'm sorry for whatever he did to you." Because of the fuss with Nel, Orihime had had to cancel her meeting with Ulquiorra and so she only had Ichigo left that day, and his meeting wasn't for another few hours. Things were going well with Ichigo's case, they hadn't spoken about the incident that had transpired in her office two months ago, but he was opening up to her and Orihime liked to think they had a sort of friendship going on. He was her only patient where she didn't feel the need to be Doctor Orihime, their relationship was so relaxed that Orihime often forgot she was supposed to be helping him. She had even met his family; they visited Ichigo twice a week and Ichigo had invited her to meet them when one of their sessions ended just before they arrived. Orihime liked his family, he had two teenage twin sisters who seemed to adore their big brother, and his father was certainly a very unique character, though Orihime was slightly concerned about the amount of times he attempted to engage his son in a fight. Orihime's last thought before she drifted off into sleep was the face of a scowling Ichigo Kurosaki.

* * *

Before she opened her eyes she could sense someone was standing near her. She opened one eye a little bit and saw someone leaning casually against the tree,

"Ichigo-san?" she muttered groggily, "what are you doing out here?" she stood up quickly and rubbed the grass off the bottom of her jeans.

"I could ask you the same thing," he shifted a little bit once she stood up so they weren't standing so close together, "you didn't come to our session, so I went and looked for you; then I found you here asleep."

Orihime couldn't help the blush she gained when he said that he had looked for her so she quickly bent her head to try and hide it, "I missed our session? What time is it?"

"Almost five."

"I'm so sorry Ichigo-san! I'm really sorry. I had a problem with Nel-chan today, and it was really stressful and I just came out here to relax and I fell asleep..."

Ichigo shrugged, "it's no big deal really, and I heard about Nel so it's understandable that you wanted some alone time."

"It's not an excuse, I'm supp- wait...how long have you been standing there?" Orihime squeaked, finally looking up at Ichigo with a look of horror on her face. Ichigo at least had the decency to blush slightly and look away,

"...not long."

"How long have you been standing there Ichigo-san?" Orihime demanded once again, hoping he would say something like five minutes or maybe twenty tops –

"An hour or so."

"An hour! You let me sleep for an hour? Ichigo-san, that's not good, I have work to be doing, and we missed your session!"

"I already told you Inoue, it's alright. I could tell you needed a break anyway."

"Hmph," Orihime crossed her arms and slid down the tree trunk so she was sitting on the floor once more, after a few seconds of hesitation, Ichigo mimicked her movements and sat down next to her, "that's what Tatsuki-chan said to me earlier," she muttered quietly, wondering if Tatsuki was in fact right.

"Who's Tatsuki?"

"She's my roommate, and my best friend. She's more like a sister than anything else really," Orihime smiled as she spoke about Tatsuki, "she wants me to go out tomorrow with a couple of our friends."

"And you're not gonna go?"

"I don't think so. I've got a lot of work to do and-"

Ichigo scowled at Orihime, something he hadn't done in a while, "that's stupid. You should enjoy your life and get out and do things instead of sitting at home pretending to do work. That's just a waste."

For the first time in the two months that Orihime had known Ichigo, she could hear bitterness in his voice and she immediately felt guilty at her words, she wanted to apologise but she was pretty sure he wouldn't appreciate that. Instead, she said the next thing that popped into her mind, "when was the last time you left here, Ichigo-san?"

There was a short pause before Ichigo answered, and when he did his voice sounded wistful, "almost six months now." Orihime wasn't sure what made her say the next thing that she said, she knew there was a possibility that she would regret it, but at that point in time, she didn't care,

"I'm taking you out tomorrow."

* * *

**AUTHORS NOTE: **Everyone has one chapter that they dislike...I dislike this one, well just the ending, so I may change this. At the beginning I said Nel was out of character because she doesn't like violence at all, and I think I made her pretty violent in this chapter, so I'm sorry if you don't like that, but I do admit she's a tad out of character in this chappy. Thank you, you lovely reviewers ^_^

To: ICHIHIME4EVR: I'm sorry if you think Orihime is out of character, I tried not to make her too out of character, but you have to understand that this is an AU fic, so there will be some OOCness, I do try and keep it low though. And I decided for _now _she's going to call him "Ichigo-san" because she doesn't know him that well yet, "kun" is normally reserved for people you are quite familiar with if I'm correct. And finally, I decided not to name Ichigo's hollow because as far as I can remember, in the manga the hollow doesn't actually ever say what his name is. Shiro and stuff like that has been formed in the fandom world, again, if I'm wrong on that somebody just tell me and I'll fix it. *phew* you should really get an account so I can just PM you.


	6. Love

**Summary:**Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital, a place for those deemed insane and beyond help. Can one determined healer prove them wrong and heal the one she loves?  
**Genre:**Romance/Hurt/Comfort/Angst [possible humor]  
**Warnings:**AU/Sex/Language/Mature Themes  
**Pairings:**Ichigo and Orihime

**AUTHORS NOTE:**Hello to anyone reading this, I don't really have much to say except that I hope you enjoy it, oh and thanks for reading this. Hello, sorry for the lack of update, I just got back from holiday. Enjoy.

**A Schizophrenics Love**

**Chapter 6: **Love

Orihime didn't know why she was so nervous. She was standing in her bedroom, eyeing herself critically in her full length mirror trying to decide if what she was wearing was acceptable. It was her third outfit change of the evening, but this time she gave her reflection a satisfied nod. She was wearing a white just above the knee skirt with a purple floral print all the way round the skirt with a simple white vest on top. It wasn't quite warm enough to wear just the vest top, so she had thrown on a light green hooded jumper on top, along with a black scarf that she had draped casually around her neck. Her hair had been problem; she spent ages trying to come up with a style she liked. In the end she just let it hang loose, although she used two flower hair pins that had brother had bought for her to keep back a couple of stray bangs that were always in her way. She frowned at her reflection, she didn't want to admit it, but there was a reason for her why she was so nervous about the way she looked, and the reason had bright orange hair.

"What are you doing dressing up like that, hm?"

"Tatsuki-chan!" Orihime gasped as she quickly whipped around to find Tatsuki leaning nonchalantly against Orihime's bedroom door with a grin on her face.

"I'm glad you changed your mind about coming tonight, but you don't have to get ready yet, we don't have to be at the restaurant for another hour and a half."

Orihime blushed and began fiddling with the little strings that dangled off her scarf, she hadn't told Tatsuki about the little addition to their party today. She had tried to, several times in fact, but every time she tried to bring up the topic, she would be forcibly remembered of just who exactly she was bringing with her. Ichigo Kurosaki, her patient. She felt like she was breaking the rules of patient and doctor conduct, but she wasn't...well that's what she had to tell herself. She was his doctor, it was perfectly within her right to take him out of the hospital whenever she wanted as long as she thought it would do him some good. And it would do him good, she was sure of that, but she couldn't help the word _date _from jumping around her brain. She was actually quite surprised that Unohana-sama had agreed to Orihime taking Ichigo out, she actually seemed rather pleased that Orihime was making progress with him.

"Orihime, what's wrong?" Tatsuki snapped Orihime out of her thoughts, she had a worried look on her face, "you've been standing there muttering to yourself for the last two minutes!"

"Eh heh heh heh," Orihime chuckled nervously, "it's just that I forgot to tell you that I'm going to meet you and the others at the restaurant."

Tatsuki folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at Orihime, "and why is that exactly?"

"Uh...well...I need to pick someone up and I don't want to make everyone else late, so I'll just go and get him on my-"

"Him? Did you just say, him?" Tatsuki's eyes were widening and a look of absolute joy spasmed across her face, "you got a date for tonight, didn't you Hime? Why didn't you tell me?"

Orihime began waving her arms repeatedly in the air, something she always did when she became embarrassed or too flustered in a situation, "not a date! He's not my date, we're just friends. Just friend's going out as friends. Friends."

"Okay Hime, friends...whatever you say," Tatsuki rolled her eyes at Orihime's childlike behaviour when Tatsuki had called it a date, it was cute, but Tatsuki was secretly worried about Orihime's seemingly lack of interest in dating and things like that, though it appeared that was changing now, even if Orihime didn't want to admit it, "so where'd you meet this new friend of yours?"

"A..at the hospital," she said quietly, it wasn't a lie technically, she did meet Ichigo at the hospital.

"Ooh, at the hospital, so he must be smart right?" Tatsuki said with an even wider grin as she imagined a handsome doctor sweeping Orihime off her feet.

"Mmhm, he's smart..." Orihime said slowly thinking that she still hadn't lied yet technically, Ichigo was very smart, "I have to go now Tatsuki-chan, I said I'd pick him up in thirty minutes."

"Alright Hime, you know what restaurant we're meeting at, right?"

The nerves were threatening to bubble up and over as she watched Ichigo slide into the passenger seat of her car. _This is all part of his treatment, this is all part of his treatment_, she repeated to herself to try and stop herself from going insane.

"Nice car," Ichigo commented as he strapped himself into the seat. All Orihime could do was nod in answer to his statement, she felt so ridiculous. He was her patient, and here she was acting like a school girl with a crush. _A crush? _Orihime risked at sideways glance at Ichigo and saw that he was still looking around her car with interest. _Do I like Ichigo-san like that? _She let her eyes roam his body as she pondered that thought, she had to admit to herself that he was an attractive man, he made her laugh, he was very intelligent, and he always treated her with respect. _Not always_, a sneaky little voice spoke out from the recesses of her mind causing her to remember that afternoon two months ago when Ichigo had lost control. That was all the reality check she needed, _he is my patient, the idea of even liking him that way is ridiculous! I would be putting myself in danger and taking advantage of someone I'm supposed to be caring for!_

"Inoue?"

"Yes Ichigo-san?"

"What are you doing?"

Orihime shot Ichigo a confused look before following his line of sight towards her own body. She looked up and realised that she had been in the middle of fist pumping the air to her own little speech in her thoughts,

"I...I was just stretching..." she said lamely, lowering her arm and getting ready to start the car, "ready to go Ichigo-san?"

"Yeah," there was a short silence in the car as Orihime slowly began to manoeuvre her way through the man cars parked in the hospital car park, "you like nice, Inoue," Ichigo muttered briskly, in a tone that suggested he had forced himself to complement the auburn beauty next to him.

**She looks fucking hot. Look at those legs King, she's a fucking tease.**

_Shut up_.

"Thank you Ichigo-san," Orihime said quietly, avoiding his gaze so he would not notice her blush at his kind words, _he's just being polite...he's just being polite._

"So, uh, where are we going?" Ichigo found himself turning away from her and gazing out of the window as he spoke, he wasn't sure why, but he was avoiding her gaze.

"We're just going to a restaurant with some of my friends, and then this fireworks display afterwards," Orihime explained, she waited a few seconds for him to respond but when she got no response she finally turned to him, "is that okay, Ichigo-san?"

**Sounds like a date to me, she wants you Kingy.**

"You didn't tell me we were going with your friends," Ichigo managed to croak out, he had not been expecting this. Leaving the hospital to go out with Orihime, his doctor, was one thing, but he was sure he wasn't ready to meet actual people, "I can't do this Inoue…you didn't say-"

"Calm down Ichigo-san," she said softly, resisting the pressing urge to stroke his leg comfortingly for he was now sitting stiffly, gripping onto the seat with a death grip, "calm down, we can turn back now if you really want to. But…but I think this could be good for you…leaving the hospital and socialising with people outside of the hospital," _That and I really want you here with me today_, she added on guiltily in her head.

**Don't pretend like you don't want some time with her King, stop being a pussy!**

_Shut UP._

**Somebody's touchy…**

"Bastard," Ichigo growled aloud, "ah, sorry Inoue…I wasn't talking to you," he added sheepishly.

"I know you weren't Ichigo-san,"

"But don't you see why this isn't a good idea? _You _know who I'm talking to when I say crap like that…but your friends don't. They're just gonna think I'm crazy, and I am…aren't I?"

"I don't think you're crazy Ichigo-san," Orihime said quietly and truthfully, deliberately trying not to provoke him or get him riled up.

**Pfft, that's why you've spent the last five years in a psych hospital, you're fucking crazy Kingy!**

For once, Ichigo could agree with and relate to the evil and cackling voice inside his head, "yeah Inoue, I'm not crazy…that's why I've spent the last five years at the hospital. I'm completely normal," he sighed loudly before saying, "just take me back Inoue. I'm guessing you haven't told your friends _how _you know me, so just take me back and say I stood you up or something."

"And that's what you want, is it?" Orihime said in that same quiet tone, though now it was because she was disappointed instead of to avoid aggravating him, "this is the first time you've left the hospital in how many months…and you want me to take you back?"

"Ye…yeah."

**Fucking liar.**

They reached a set of road works and traffic and Orihime let the car slow to a halt before turning to face Ichigo for the first time since they started their journey, "Ichigo-san, look me in the eye and tell me that you want me to take you back." Orihime wasn't one hundred percent sure what she was expecting to come out of her saying that to him, but later on she was secretly pleased that what she had said had worker. He didn't say anything at first and Orihime began to worry that she had said something wrong, but then he turned to face her,

"Tell me you want me to take you back," Orihime whispered quietly as she stared into his chocolate brown eyes.

"I want…" he trailed off slightly and his eyes stopped looking directly at Orihime, but they started to roam her body slowly, when he returned to looking at her eyes once again, his cheeks were stained with red and Orihime was sure her own were as well, "I want you…"

**I know you want her Kingy, you want her fucking badly. You want to **_**fuck **_**her **_**badly**_**.**

Ichigo shook his head and gritted his teeth, trying to shake the voice out of his head, "I want you to take me…"

Orihime felt her heartbeat quicken as he said these words, although she had told him to tell her to take him back, she knew she didn't want to hear those words. She could already feel those treacherous tears threatening to spill so she quickly lowered her eyes so he wouldn't see the pain he had inadvertently caused her.

"I want you to take me to wherever the hell your friends are so we can get this over and done with quickly,"

Orihime raised her eyes once again and saw Ichigo's chocolate ones. Although his words were rather harsh, and he was still wearing his signature scowl, she noticed that his eyes were soft, as if he was smiling at her. She gave him her own smile before turning her attention back to the steadily moving traffic,

"Thank you, Ichigo-san!"

"Don't thank me…I still think this is a bad idea."

Ichigo was right, it was a bad idea. Because of the traffic, Orihime and Ichigo were about half an hour late to the restaurant. Tatsuki had just been about to have a fit, thinking that Orihime had ditched them when she couldn't reach Orihime's phone, (Orihime had left it at home). Then Orihime had the oh so lovely task of introducing everyone to Ichigo. After Orihime had hugged all her friends and sat down, Ichigo had sat awkwardly next to her, Rukia had questioned who Ichigo was.

"God Orihime, I know haven't seen you in ages, but the least you could've done was sent me a message telling me you got a boyfriend! You too Tatsuki…didn't think this was worth mentioning huh?"

Both Orihime and Ichigo were beet red at this statement. Tatsuki just shrugged her shoulders and shot Orihime a fake pained look, "don't blame me Rukia, I only found out about him a couple hours ago!"

Orihime had felt Ichigo stiffen slightly as this conversation went on, and she felt it was time to set the record straight, "Tatsuki-chan! I told you already…we're just friends…" she trailed off slightly and peeked over at Ichigo and saw that although he was blushing slightly, he had a small smirk on his lips and she wondered why that was

"Friends, yeah whatever," Rukia winked at Ichigo and used her fingers as bunny ears to show how likely she believed Orihime's story, "so you gonna introduce you "friend" to us anytime soon, or do we just call him Friend all evening?"

"Oh right! I'm sorry; Rukia, this is Ichigo Kurosaki-"

Suddenly, they heard a loud coughing noise and everyone turned to see Tatsuki spluttering on her drink that she had just been sipping. Uryu rubbed her back softly,

"Are you alright Tatsuki-chan?" he asked her.

"…I'm fine," she said in an odd tone of voice as she shot Orihime a strange look that Orihime did not understand.

"Oookay," Rukia said, "now back to the introductions! Ichigo right? I'm Kuchiki Rukia, I've been friends with Orihime since high school, and this," she pointed to the red headed man sitting next to her, "this lump here is my fiancée, Abarai Renji!" she waved her fingers lightly and flashed a sparkling engagement ring around the table as she spoke. Renji studied Ichigo for a few moments before extending his hand across the table with a warmish smile on his face,

"Nice to meet ya," he said as they shook hands.

"Yeah," Ichigo said slowly, still not used to speaking to people so freely, Renji appeared not to notice anything wrong with how Ichigo was speaking, because he carried on talking,

"Orihime force you to come as well huh?"

"I did _not _'force' you to come!" Rukia muttered in an angry tone at Renji's words. Ichigo however shot a look at Orihime and noticed she was avoiding his gaze by playing with a spoon,

"Uh, yeah, kinda…I guess"

"Um…and this is Uryu-san, he's dating Tatsuki-chan," Orihime interjected quietly and firmly. Uryu nodded politely to Ichigo but made no move to shake his hand,

"Pleasure to meet you," he said stiffly and Ichigo got the impression that he didn't say much, nevertheless, he nodded back at Uryu and told him that he was glad to meet him. Finally, Orihime turned to the woman seated next to Uryu, the woman who had spat her drink a few minutes earlier,

"And this is Tatsuki-chan, my roommate, remember I told you about her?"

"Oh yeah that's right, it's nice to meet you Tatsuki…Inoue speaks about you a lot," he smiled slightly at her, but the smile was wiped off his face once he realised that she was giving him weird looks. She wasn't glaring at him, and there wasn't any hostility in her gaze, but it wasn't at all pleasant either. However, she faked a smile and muttered a quick,

"Nice to meet you," before ducking her eyes and leaning into her menu. This prompted everyone else to lean into their own menu's to decide what they would be ordering. Before long, a tired looking waiter had came for their orders, left, and then returned with six steaming plates of food. They ate in silence for a few moments as everyone gratefully tucked into their food. Their table wasn't very large, and Orihime had try extremely hard to ignore the spasm of pleasure she felt Ichigo's leg brush innocently against her skin. After the few minutes of silence, they began talking aimlessly again to each other.

"So Ichigo, how'd you meet Orihime anyway?" Rukia asked between sips of her wine.

"Uh," Ichigo cleared his throat a few times, "we met…we met at the hospital," the way he said it made it seem like a question, but nobody seemed to pick up on that, apart from Tatsuki, who was still staring at Ichigo with narrowed eyes. He wasn't sure what Orihime had told her friends about him, but it seemed he was right when he said that he guessed she hadn't told them how they _really _knew each other.

**Tell 'em how you **_**really **_**know each other Kingy, go on. Tell 'em you're fucking nuts really. **

Ichigo began tapping his foot repeatedly in an attempt to block out the sound of the voice and Orihime appeared to notice and understand immediately why he was doing it, for, unseen by everyone else on the table, she took her hand a placed it on his knee and began drawing soothing circles on his knee. Judging by the distracted look on her face, he was sure she wasn't even conscious of her own actions, but he found himself grateful for them because immediately he felt himself calming down.

"Oh, so you're at Seireitei Psych as well?" Uryu asked with an interested look on his face, he was clearly mistaking Ichigo for a doctor, "I was going to work there, but I got an offer at Seireitei General and just thought it would be safer to work there."

Ichigo didn't know what to say, instead he shifted uncomfortably in his chair, causing Orihime to squeeze lightly on his knee.

"Hell of a lot safer at Seireitei General than Seireitei Psych," Rukia put in, "I don't even know why Orihime insists on working there. It's pretty dangerous right Ichigo, with all those crazy people running around? Lord knows I could never work in that nuthouse!" Rukia, Renji, and Uryu laughed lightly at Rukia's last comment, Tatsuki smiled stiffly, but still kept an unwavering eye on Ichigo.

**She called you crazy King! Like I said, **_**fucking nuts**_**, show 'em how nuts you can get. **

_Fuck off._

"Rukia-chan!" Orihime gasped loudly after stealing a nervous glance at Ichigo, who surprisingly had a small grin on his face, "I told you not to call it that!"

"Well why not? It's true isn't it? You work with people who are off their heads half the time, it must be pretty dangerous…right Ichigo?"

Ichigo opened his mouth to answer, but Tatsuki's loud and clear voice floated across the small table,

"Orihime, Rukia? Come to the bathroom with me please…lady problems," she added to answer the questioning gazes she was now receiving. Ignoring the blushing looks the three men now sported, the three women quickly got up from the table and followed Tatsuki to the ladies toilet. As they walked off, Ichigo found the spot on his knee where Orihime had been squeezing reassuringly now felt very cold.

"What do you need Tatsuki-chan, a pad or a tam-" Orihime began to ask when they eventually crowded into the bathroom and closed to door behind them, but Tatsuki, once again, cut across her.

"Are you _insane _Orihime?" Tatsuki hissed, and for the first time in their friendship, Orihime found herself slightly scared of Tatsuki. It occurred to her then that she had never seen Tatsuki seriously angry until that point in time and she had no idea why she was angry. Orihime quickly shot Rukia and look and saw that Rukia looked just as confused as she did.

"I…I don't understand, Tatsuki-chan,"

"Oh _please_, Orihime don't act dumb! I'm talking about Ichigo! What the hell do you think you're doing bringing him here?"

"Oh."

"Yes, 'oh', now answer my question! Have you gone insane? Cause normally I think you're quite smart, give or take your few ditsy moments…but this…this is beyond ditsy! This is madness!"

"Oh how I wish I understood what you were talking about," Rukia put in sarcastically, looking between her two arguing friends.

"Ask Orihime!" Tatsuki yelled, causing Orihime to flinch a little bit, "ask her where she met Ichigo!"

"At the hospital…" Orihime mumbled weakly.

"No…enough with the evasive crap, tell Rukia what he was doing at the hospital, tell her _why _he's at the hospital!"

Orihime looked at Tatsuki in horror for a few moments wondering how on Earth Tatsuki had found out, "he's my patient," she whispered inaudibly.

"Huh?" Rukia asked, "what was that?"

"I said he's my patient! He's not a doctor at the hospital, he's a patient! _My _patient!"

There was silence in the small bathroom and Rukia let the information sink in. Orihime only just realised that she had started crying and Tatsuki was staring at her with a look that contained a mixture or anger and worry.

"He didn't seem crazy," Rukia finally said with a tone of wonder in her voice, "though he did seem a bit socially out of it I guess,"

"He's _not _crazy!" Orihime pleaded through her tears.

"He's in there for a reason Orihime! He's not there for a bloody holiday!"

"How did you know? How did you know that he's my patient?" Orihime asked Tatsuki, "how did you guess?"

"Remember when you first started working there, you told me all about your patients, their names and everything. You might've forgotten you told me all that, but I remember, I remember his name, and I remember why he's in there. He's dangerous Orihime!"

"He's not! He's not!" Orihime cried, pushing away the evil memory of the other Ichigo taking over that time in her office, "he's harmless…really!"

"Why _is _he in the hospital, Orihime?" Rukia asked in an interested tone, unlike Tatsuki she didn't seem that bothered by the fact that Ichigo was actually a patient at the hospital, on the contrary in seemed to interest her.

"He has multiple personality disorder…but it's very mild," she added quickly after seeing Tatsuki's narrowing gaze, "and he also has schizophrenia…but that's pretty mild as well," she felt the need to add that, it was important to her that Tatsuki got rid of the notion that Ichigo was crazy, because she really didn't believe he was.

"He's dangerous Orihime, to himself, to us, and to you! Why would you even think it would be a good idea to bring him here?"

"It's for his treatment. You said you thought he was socially out of it didn't you Rukia-chan? That's because he hasn't left the hospital in months, and the times he left before that I don't think he got the chance to interact with anyone really. Ichigo-san's one of my better patients, he hasn't had a relapse in almost a year," she felt a bit guilty with her last lie, but she said it anyway, "this is just an experiment to see how he fairs in society, it's all just to help him!"

"Bullshit."

"…Tatsuki-chan…" Orihime stared at her friend in wonder, it wasn't rare that she heard Tatsuki swear.

"Bullshit Orihime, I can see you in your head, telling yourself that story. That might've been what your original aim was, but not now. I can see it in your eyes, you like him! No, don't try and deny it," Tatsuki ordered as Orihime had started spluttering at these words, "I'm your best friend aren't I? How long have I known you? I can tell you like him, you like it a lot. And I don't know what's worse, that you have feelings for one of your patients? Or the fact that you don't recognise the danger of it?"

"I…I…I don't know what you want me to do! I can't help my feelings Tatsuki-chan!"

"I want you to take him back _now_. Take him back to the hospital and forget about him when you're not working. Keep your work life and your personal life separate. Get yourself a normal boyfriend-"

"He is normal!"

"…and forget about whatever mixed up feelings your having for Ichigo! Jesus Orihime, you say you can't help your feelings, but do I need to remind you that you can lose your job because of your feelings?"

Orihime shook her head, she didn't need Tatsuki to remind her of that, she'd thought of that a million times already.

"Good, now go do what I said, make whatever excuses you need to make and get him back where he belongs!"

Orihime rubbed her tear stained eyes and nodded at Tatsuki, "H..Hai, Tatsuki-chan,"

Tatsuki's tone softened when she next spoke to Orihime, "Hime, I hate arguing with you, I really do. But this is for your own good. I love you, you know that right?"

Orihime nodded dumbly once more, "I'll see you when I get back home. Goodbye Rukia-chan, sorry about tonight," she didn't wait for Rukia's answer before she fled from the bathroom and back to their table when Ichigo, Renji and Uryu still sat. Because of the tense atmosphere Orihime had just left in the bathroom, she found it odd to find Ichigo and Renji seated around the table laughing like old friends, whilst Uryu sat watching them with a tight lipped smile. They all looked up as Orihime approached the table and Ichigo's smile was wiped off his face the second he saw Orihime,

"Inoue what's wrong?"

She inwardly cursed her eyes which were obviously bloodshot for him to notice there was something wrong with her, "Hm? Nothing, nothing, I just poked myself with a mascara pen,"

"Oh."

"Anyway Ichigo-san, Unohana-sama just called and we're needed back at the hospital. Now."

He seemed to sense the urgency in her tone because he didn't question her story, instead he stood up immediately and made to leave with her.

"Sorry about this Renji-san, Uryu-san," Orihime smiled apologetically at the two men, "Tatsuki and Rukia-chan are on their way out now, but we really have to go. Come _on _Ichigo-san!"

Ichigo waved behind him to Renji and Uryu before following Orihime out. They walked in complete silence until they had reached Orihime's car and were both sitting safely strapped inside it.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong?" he asked hesitantly as he watched her wipe her nose with the back of her palm.

"I'm fine, Ichigo-san…perfectly fine!"

"So why were you crying?"

"I wasn't crying! I told you, I poked myself in the eye with-"

"With mascara, yeah I heard the first time, but you're not wearing mascara…you're not wearing make-up, you never do."

**Observant aren't we?**

Orihime said nothing for a few seconds, she just sat biting her bottom lip.

"Inoue?"

Suddenly, Orihime burst into loud noisy tears which startled Ichigo considerably, he had not be expecting that. For lack of anything else to do, he did something he used to do with his sisters when they cried. He hesitantly reached over across the chairs and rested his arm over her shoulder, pulling her close to him. He tried not to think of how perfectly she fit next to him, like a puzzle piece, as she shook and cried. She cried for about five minutes straight before she was able to launch into the story of what happened in the bathroom with Tatsuki…minus the revelation about her feelings towards Ichigo of course. He sat perfectly still and listened through all of it, occasionally stroking her hair gently, or whispering reassuring words into her ear until she was fit and able to drive him back to the hospital.

It was only after she had safely watched him walk back into the hospital, that she realised with a look of shock on her face that she loved him. She loved Ichigo Kurosaki. This thought only brought more tears to the shaken doctor.

**A/N: **So this is a really long chapter so give me some long reviews ;) I hope you enjoyed this chappy, I like it. Things start to get going in the next chapter, the actual plot gets revealed soon and all that. Just a warning, I'm going back to school on Monday - yay. - so I won't be updating as much as I would like because of school, so don't hate me if I'm a bit slow.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary: **Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital, a place for those deemed insane and beyond help. Can one determined healer prove them wrong and heal the one she loves?  
**Genre: **Romance/Hurt/Comfort/Angst [possible humor]  
**Warnings: **AU/Sex/Language/Mature Themes  
**Pairings: **Ichigo and Orihime

**AUTHORS NOTE: **Hello to anyone reading this, I don't really have much to say except that I hope you enjoy it, oh and thanks for reading this.

**A Schizophrenics Love**

**Chapter 7: **

He didn't sleep well that night, but for once - it wasn't down to his usual problems with the voice in his head, or the one reoccurring nightmare he frequently had - no, tonight he wasn't able to sleep because of one person. His doctor to be exact. Every time he closed his eyes, an image of her tear stained face would float into his memory and he'd find himself wide awake once again.

**I can't blame ya for thinking about her…she's fucking hot-**

_Not now_

_**- **_**think about how vulnerable she was today-**

_Shut up_

**- seriously King, you need to learn how to take advantage of shit, that woulda been an easy fuck-**

There was a loud smashing noise within the confines of his room and Ichigo was suddenly plunged into a murky darkness.

_Look what you made me do you bastard, _Ichigo grumbled to the voice within his mind and he stumbled around his room to find the main light switch. In his frustration and anger with the vulgar voice he had flung his lamp across the room, causing it to break and submerge him in darkness. _Stupid hollow, _Ichigo thought angrily when he finally reached the switch. He didn't have a name for the voice or the alter personality that would sometimes take control, he felt that giving it a name would be like admitting he was disturbed; instead he sometimes referred to the presence residing within him as a 'hollow', because of the hollow feeling he would feel every time he allowed himself to be taken over by the beast within. He'd never told anyone that before, not his father, his sisters, or any of his doctors, it was just a word he would occasionally use whilst he was alone. He briefly wondered what Orihime would say or think if he ever mentioned his little nickname to her, and he was suddenly brought back to reality, remembering why he had smashed the lamp. It was because of her. He wasn't sure what it was, but once the hollow within him began speaking derogatorily about Orihime, something snapped inside him .

"Why though," he muttered aloud as he crossed his room and flopped down on the regulatory hospital bed, _why do I care? _Sure, he had never been able to stand to watch anyone he cared about crying, especially when it was because of him that said person was crying, but he wasn't sure when he began to care about her. He respected her a hell of a lot more than some of the other doctors at the hospital, she was kind, patient and at times very funny.

**Sounds like ya like Hime-chan, Kingy**

Ichigo squinted his eyes shut tightly to block out the voice, but he couldn't help but growl out loud possessively when he heard the words, 'Hime-chan'. He hated the familiar way the hollow voice would talk about Orihime, as if they were friends,

**You ain't friends with her either Kingy, your just another nutcase to be added to her list of nutcases to try and fix.**

Ignoring the malicious voice, Ichigo flipped himself over in bed and closed his eyes, allowing the image of a crying Orihime to float into his mind. She was a beautiful woman, he wasn't blind - just because he chose to control himself didn't mean he wasn't acutely aware of her beauty. A blush crept slowly upon his cheeks as he thought about how closely they were sitting next to each other throughout the evening, and the way she had placed her hand upon his knee, almost subconsciously, as if she had sensed he was close to snapping without him even saying a word. That was another thing he liked about her; he never had to say much, and yet she would still know what he was thinking or how to deal with him. Liked she really cared about him.

**She's your doctor King, don't inflate that head of yours…it's her fucking **_**job **_**to care…you ain't nothing special**

Ichigo rolled over once again and before falling into the unconscious state of mind called sleep, he found himself agreeing with the voice.

She didn't sleep well that night either. After she'd dropped Ichigo back at the hospital she drove around aimlessly for at least two hours. She couldn't go home, she wasn't ready to face Tatsuki yet. So she drove around the streets of Japan, sobbing her heart out and hating herself for it. She knew she was in the wrong, it was a bad move taking Ichigo out of the hospital - with her friends no less, but she couldn't help it. The doctor in her knew the short outing had to have done him so good, but unfortunately she wasn't thinking like a doctor right now. Her emotions were running rampant. Caring for a patient was one thing…but _loving _a patient was on a whole different level. It was unprofessional and she was pretty sure it was unlawful as well.

"He's under my care for a reason," she muttered to herself quietly as she drove through the empty streets, "he's under my care for a _reason_," she kept repeating those words to herself but it didn't help. You can't help who you fall in love with.

"Where have you been Orihime?"

Orihime winced at the sharp tone of voice Tatsuki used, she kept her head bent low so Tatsuki wouldn't be able to see her tear stained face,

"…traffic. There was a lot of traffic," she mumbled, trying to walk past Tatsuki to get to her bedroom, "I'm quite tired so I'm just going to go to-"

"Oh no you don't!" Tatsuki lashed out a grabbed onto one of Orihime's arms, effectively stopping her from moving, "we need to talk about what happened tonight!"

"There's nothing to talk about!" Orihime almost yelled, it was like there was a coil in her stomach and it had just snapped. She lifted her head up and faced Tatsuki, allowing her to see her tired and blood shot eyes, "you were right, it was a stupid thing to do! I wasn't thinking, I wasn't being professional, _you were right_. But I don't want to talk about it now, please Tatsuki-chan!"

They stared at each other in complete silence for a few minutes, before Tatsuki's eyes finally softened and she took a few quick steps closer to Orihime to engulf her in a tight hug.

"I love you Hime, you know that…don't you?"

"Y..yes,"

"I hate arguing with you, you know all I want is to see you happy and smiling like usual. But sometimes…sometimes Hime, you have no street smarts. You're a frickin' genius with everything else, but you don't have an accurate sense of reality. People like Ichigo are in hospitals for a reason, I don't know why you thought it would be a good idea to take him out of there…"

"…he hasn't been out in a while," she said lamely, "I thought it would be good therapy for him,"

"See what I mean, the doctor side of you has the right idea, but the other side of you mixes it all up. Jeez Hime, if you wanted to get him out of the hospital, I'm sure you have hospital arranged visits with other patients; not you and him with a few other friends. It looked like you two were on a date!"

Orihime blushed as she realised that was indeed how it would've appeared to the outside world,

"I know Tatsuki-chan, I know-"

"You know what your problem is?" Tatsuki interrupted barely even noticing Orihime had continued talking, "you're too nice and caring. I bet that Ichigo's a nice guy, and you've taken to him, just like you do to everyone, and you consider him a friend. You _can't _do that Hime, you have to have a certain degree of integrity and responsibility, got it?"

Orihime nodded and Tatsuki relinquished her hold of her. Orihime said goodnight to Tatsuki before quickly rushing to her bedroom and closing the door shut behind her. She crawled into bed without even taking her clothes off,

_He's my patient. He is under my care and he trusts me to look after him and eventually heal him. Even considering a relationship with him would be going against every one of my ethics, and would be unfair to him. He is a patient. He's my patient. Nothing more…_

She repeated those words to herself as she fell into a fitful sleep.

* * *

**A/N: **I am very disappointed in myself. I haven't updated in what, almost two weeks, and this is what I have to give you. I told you I'd be slower updating because of school and stuff, but the reason this chapter took so long is because I have had a major case of writers blocks, and I think it shows a lot.

This chapter is very short and is essentially just a filler chapter. I'm not very proud of it. But fear not, because I _promise _you I will have another chapter out within a couple of hours that will make up for the pitifulness of this one. I don't even have a name for this chapter, it sucks that much.

Thank you for all your reviews and I realised that a lot of you asked me questions in your reviews, so I'm gonna go and answer all of them now. If you don't actually have a fanfiction account, I can't answer your review directly so instead of posting all my answers at the bottom of this, I'm gonna put them up on my profile page within the next hour or so. So if you want to see your answer, check there.

Otherwise, thank you for still reading this, although I'm becoming slower at updating and this chapter sucked, I appreciate all of you very much.


	8. Revelations?

**Summary: **Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital, a place for those deemed insane and beyond help. Can one determined healer prove them wrong and heal the one she loves?  
**Genre: **Romance/Hurt/Comfort/Angst [possible humor]  
**Warnings: **AU/Sex/Language/Mature Themes  
**Pairings: **Ichigo and Orihime

**AUTHORS NOTE: **Hello to anyone reading this, I don't really have much to say except that I hope you enjoy it, oh and thanks for reading this.

**A Schizophrenics Love**

**Chapter 8: **Revelations?

Orihime rubbed her temples soothingly as she walked down the corridor of the hospital to the room of her first patient. Nel. For once she wasn't exactly looking forward to basking in the company of the hyperactive young woman, Nel required too much effort and Orihime wanted nothing more than to crawl back into her bed and sleep for a few more years. Though, she supposed that if she was lucky, Nel would be having one of her rare quiet days that required very little activity from Orihime. Unfortunately, she wasn't that lucky.

"Ori-himaaaaay!" Nel screeched as Orihime pushed open her bedroom door with a strained smile stretching across her tired features. As usual, Nel was sitting on her bedroom floor, surrounded in a mess of toys and paints. Today it seemed she was especially engrossed in a Lego set her brothers had brought for her the previous week. It was quite sight to see a fully grown woman lying stretched across the floor with mountains of Lego surrounding her as she happily built cities and other things,

"Good morning, Nel-chan," she said in a falsely cheery voice as she stepped across the room and crouched down on the floor beside Nel, "how has your morning been so far?"

Nel stopped smashing the Lego pieces together for a moment and turned and smiled at Orihime,

"GREAT!" she yelled before going back to her game, seemingly oblivious to the amused look Orihime was giving her. That was the thing about Nel, she never elaborated unless you specifically asked her a question, just as a child would. Orihime had long since stopped bringing her notepad to her sessions with Nel, she had memorized her case from back to front and knew all of her little quirks.

"What was so great about it, hmm?" Orihime asked as she rocked back onto her palms and settled herself into a comfortable position on the floor, narrowly avoiding a piece of Lego stabbing her hand, she knew Nel quite well and knew perfectly well that if her day so far had been "great" as she had put it, then there was probably a very long, and very excitable story behind it.

"I got to have pancakes for breakfast, and Nel likes pancakes, pancakes are my favourite! But you're only allowed to take two!" Nel pouted childishly and stuck two fingers into Orihime's face, as if she was making sure that Orihime knew what the number two was.

"Oh dear," Orihime muttered, trying to hide a smile from Nel. Nel hated the rule in the cafeteria that you were only allowed a maximum of two of anything, she preferred to gorge herself until she was about to burst.

"But then something 'mazing happened!" Nel's eyes suddenly lit up and a dreamy expression overtook her face, "two more pancakes dropped on my plate! Like magic!"

"Like magic huh?" Orihime said with a raised eyebrow, she didn't like to encourage Nel's delusions very often, and she didn't want to have to deal with a Nel who believed in magic, dealing with the one who thought she was a child was hard enough. Nel nodded her head rapidly,

"Yup, just like magic. But then Nel looked up and Ichi was walking past me, so Nel said 'THANK YOU ICHIIIIIIIIII' and he didn't say anything, but Nel knows it was him," she nodded again, more to herself this time, as if she was reassuring herself of what she knew.

Orihime bit her lip harshly at the mention of Ichigo's name and she was acutely aware that a faint blush was staining her cheeks as she remembered how close they had sat the evening before, or how she had looked into his eyes for what seemed like hours, or how he had held her as she had sobbed unprofessionally into his chest- _NOOOO!_, she screamed inside her head, _none of those thoughts!_

"Well how do you know it was him if he didn't say anything?" Orihime asked Nel, trying to keep the professional tone within her voice.

Nel shook her head at Orihime, as if she was mocking the naivety of her doctor, "Ichi _always _gives Nel his pancakes! And his milkshake, and his crisps, and his sweets, and his cookies…" Nel's eyes began to glaze over as she thought of the many extra sweets Ichigo had given her during her time at the hospital.

"…but that's because Ichi is Nel's bestest friend in the whole wide world!" Nel finished in a sing song voice as she began picking up her Lego pieces again. Orihime let her play in silence for a while as she thought about what Nel had just said to her. From her meetings with Ichigo and his case notes, it had seemed to her as if he didn't interact with any of the other patients at the hospital, except to occasionally fight with the likes of Grimmjow or Yammy, otherwise, he kept himself to himself. Nel seemed to be the exception to that rule though. He allowed her to interact with him without pushing her away, a fact which intrigued her. He treated Nel like the five year old child she thought she was and seemed to try and nurture her childish tendencies. Nel seemed to be drawn towards him as well, and she wondered why that was,

"Nel-chan?" Orihime asked quietly, breaking the silence in the room. Nel didn't look up, instead she carried on trying to piece together her Lego pieces,

"Mhm Himaay?" she replied with her tongue sticking out sideways as she concentrated on her game.

"Why do you call Ichigo-san your best friend? When did you become friends?" she leaned forward slightly so she was closer to Nel. Nel frowned a little and rolled her eyes to the ceiling as she tried to remember when their friendship had begun, in the end she shrugged her shoulders,

"Ichi and Nel are always friends. We're getting married when Nel grows up," she stated simply before turning back to her toys. Orihime had to once again bite her bottom lip, but this time to stop her from laughing at Nel. It was common for a young child to believe they would marry an older man in their life that they looked up to as they grew, but hearing Nel say it was some what humorous. Then Orihime sighed, hearing Nel say that was only another harsh confirmation that Nel was slowly losing all touches of what was reality, and what was the world she had fabricated herself.

"Nel-chan-" Orihime began quietly, only to realise that Nel was talking quietly in a serious and sombre tone she rarely ever used.

"Nel doesn't like it when Ichi's sad…or mad…or when Ichi ignores Nel," Nel's voice began to waver a little bit and she stood up abruptly and began pacing her room, ignoring the pain she must've felt when she stepped on the Lego pieces with her bare feet.

"Nel-chan?" Orihime said warily, suddenly remembering the last time Nel lost control during a meeting, "are you alright?"

Nel snapped her head up and stared at Orihime for a few seconds before asking, "do you know why Ichi gets sad, or why he gets mad and ignores Nel?"

Orihime shook her head tentatively, wondering where this sudden outburst came from and where it was going. Nel opened her mouth, then closed it, she repeated this goldfish like action for a few moments before she mumbled,

"Nel doesn't know either."

Orihime opened her mouth to ask Nel what on earth she was talking about, when Nel suddenly began smiling manically,

"There's hot dogs today! Nel loves hot dogs! Do you think Ichi will give me one of his so I can have _threeeee_?" Nel stuck three fingers in the air and began waving them around, letting Orihime know that whatever serious discussion she had been about to have with Nel, the opportunity for it was gone now, and they were soon back to playing with Lego.

Orihime was worn out by the time her session with Nel was over. Somehow the hyperactive young woman had convinced Orihime to bake cakes with her, a task that had not gone down to well in the kitchen. Nel had successfully burnt three frying pans, and the kitchen staff were still attempting to pry off the glue like substance Orihime had created from the one remaining frying pan by the they had been shooed away. However, her session had given Orihime some new and interesting information to work with, both with Nel and Ichigo.

She liked all her three patients, she genuinely did, but her sessions with Ulquiorra were her least favourite. For the majority of the session they would sit in silence, with Ulquiorra reading a book that she had given him, and Orihime just watching, occasionally saying the odd word, from which she would just hear a soft grunt or sigh in response. So, although her sessions with him were the least rewarding, it was Ulquiorra who she was most worried about. She really knew nothing about him apart from what she had learnt from his case notes and that thought didn't sit well with her. Still, she wouldn't force him to talk, she would allow him to open up and trust her within his own space of time. She'd been working in the psychiatric business for long enough to know that it was never a good idea to rush unstable patients into doing anything, that only made things worse.

So their session began as usual, Orihime met Ulquiorra down in the small library where he usually was, he nodded a brief hello to her after she chirped her usual good afternoon, she then pulled a chair out and watched as he stuffed his nose into his book and began to completely ignore her…as usual. Orihime tapped her fingers gently on the table in front of her, she hated to admit it, but she found his sessions boring. She wasn't even allowed to bring her notepad and pens in to do some of her other work, just in case Ulquiorra had a sudden suicidal urge. It wasn't long before her thoughts drifted away from the case in front of her and she found herself thinking about her last session for the day, the session she was dreading the most, her session with Ichigo.

_He probably hates me and thinks I'm a pathetic excuse for a doctor, _she thought bitterly as she recalled some her behaviour from the night before. And it was true, she hadn't acted like his doctor at all last night and she wondered if that would lower the amount of respect he had for her. It wouldn't do for a patient not to respect their doctor, that was just asking for a patient to walk all over you.

"What is wrong?"

Orihime jerked her head up quickly and stared wide eyed at the sullen looking man in front of her, she didn't know how long she spent staring at him, but it must have been for a considerable amount of time because he narrowed his eyes slightly before repeating,

"What is wrong?"

Orihime shook her head slightly, still in a semi state of shock the Ulquiorra had willingly spoken to her during a session,

"Wrong? There's nothing wrong with me Ulquiorra-san," Orihime smiled that fake smile that she had used for Nel earlier on, the difference was that Nel hadn't noticed the falseness of her smile, Ulquiorra on the other hand did. He sighed quietly before carefully and slowly slipping his bookmark into place in his book and laying it neatly down on the table beside him. Then he clasped his hands together and sat in perfect silence, staring at a now extremely flustered looking Orihime. She had wanted an improvement in their sessions, but she was prepared for it at the point in time._ I'm the doctor_, she reminded herself with a mental slap, _take it in your stride Hime, take it in your stride…_

"You seem a bit more talkative today, Ulquiorra-san," Orihime said politely, noting in her mind his defensive way of sitting. She noticed that when he was reading he would sit sort of sprawled out, in whatever position he found comfortable, but when he was just sitting - or now as he was talking - his arms were close to his chest and he seemed to make himself smaller, as if he were afraid of something.

"I asked you a question."

Orihime squirmed slightly in her seat, he was making her feel as if she were under some sort of interrogation at a police station.

"I told you Ulqui-"

"I do not appreciate being lied to."

Orihime bit her lip and remembered how Ikkaku had informed her of how observant Ulquiorra could be when she first started at the hospital; because of their lack of communication she had had no reason to remember this little snippet of valuable information until now. She racked her brain as fast as she could to try and decide a course of action that would enable her to deal with Ulquiorra effectively and without him shutting himself off from her again. An idea suddenly came to her and she decided to use it. She lifted her chin up slightly in what may have been seen as slightly defiant, or even possibly arrogant.

"I don't appreciate sitting in silence for over two months," she said with one eyebrow raised, indicating to Ulquiorra that it was definitely he who she was directing that sentence at. They sat in silence for another two minutes, both of them staring unwaveringly at the other, surprisingly it was Ulquiorra who spoke first,

"Do not ask any questions. Do not say anything. You have no rights," he said robotically and with a hint of bitterness that left Orihime completely shocked. She hadn't expected him to say anything like that,

"Wha…what do you mean I have no rights? I'm your doctor Ulquiorra-san, and whether you like it or not, it's my job to talk to you and ask you questions!"

"I see no reason to lower myself by talking to a lesser being such as yourself."

"…lesser being?" Orihime choked out, he was degrading her! This was something she hadn't read in his notes, though she supposed that was because nobody had ever really had a conversation with him before.

"Do not take offence. The majority of the human race is trash, do not think that because you hold the title of 'doctor' that you are an exception, you are not."

Orihime made some notes in her head about Ulquiorra, he had detached himself from the world, perhaps seeing himself as a sort of higher being that the world was not worthy for. _That would explain the suicidal tendencies_, she thought as she watched Ulquiorra pick up his book again and begin reading once more, _he think's he above everyone and everything…I wonder what could've caused this train of thought…_

Orihime had a throbbing headache by the time her session with Ulquiorra was finished. He had refused to say anything else to her after his last comment about humanity, and the rest of the session had passed in a complete silence. He didn't even nod goodbye after she had said her curt good bye. But, she told herself, at least she'd made a break through with him, that was something. That was improvement. Her stomach growled as she walked up to the cafeteria to grab something to eat before going to find her last patient for the day.

_Ichigo._

_

* * *

_**A/N: **Aaah, I feel much better with myself now that I've given you a chapter I feel proud about. Much, much better.

Thank you for your reviews, I'll try and get going on the next chapter as soon as possible :)


	9. Goodbye?

**Summary: **Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital, a place for those deemed insane and beyond help. Can one determined healer prove them wrong and heal the one she loves?  
**Genre: **Romance/Hurt/Comfort/Angst [possible humor]  
**Warnings: **AU/Sex/Language/Mature Themes  
**Pairings: **Ichigo and Orihime

**AUTHORS NOTE: **Hello to anyone reading this, I don't really have much to say except that I hope you enjoy it, oh and thanks for reading this.

**A Schizophrenics Love**

**Chapter 9: **Goodbyes?

She kept wiping her hands on her skirt, nervously trying to get rid of the tell tale sweat signs that showed she was a nervous wreck. He wasn't faring much better, it was subtle, but he didn't make eye contact with her, instead his eyes darted nervously around the room. They were sitting on opposite ends of the room. _This is terrible_, Orihime moaned to herself, this wasn't what she had planned for today, but it appeared that the events of the previous night had only served to make their already awkward relationship, a tad more awkward. _Right, I'm the doctor I need to take charge! _She cleared her throat quietly,

"Uh…Ichi..Ichigo-san?"

His head snapped up and brown eyes met with grey for a fraction of a second before they both quickly glanced away.

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to apologise for my behaviour last night," she wasn't looking at him anymore so she didn't see the curious stare he was now giving her, "it was completely unprofessional and unfair of me to place you in a situation like that. I…I hope you can forgive me."

There was a brief silence in the room for a few beats.

"Forgive you? What the hell should I be forgiving you for?" his tone of voice forced her to look and stare at him, and what she saw shocked her. For the first time since their sessions had started, Ichigo looked angry. She'd seen his alter personality angry, but that was different, that man was a whole different person, he was not Ichigo.

"Ichigo-san?" she said tentatively, knowing that he was probably at his snapping point, but she didn't understand what had gotten him so angry, "what-"

He stood up abruptly, knocking his chair backwards, "I don't understand you Inoue."

She blinked, not understanding _him._

"Some days you seem so sure of yourself, like that day when you had to deal with Nel when she had a relapse…and other days you act like you don't know what the hell you're doing, like today. I don't know whether this is your style of working, or whatever, but I don't like it."

Before she had a chance to react to his statement, he quickly crossed the room and flopped down next to her on the sofa she was seated on.

"Ichi-"

He cut her off again, "you're stronger than you think you are Inoue," he wasn't looking at her as he spoke, instead he had placed both arms around the back of the chair and looking up towards the ceiling, "last night…last night when you were crying,"

Orihime bowed her head to try and hide her blush, she didn't need to be reminded of how unprofessional she had been the previous night.

"…it was painful to watch you cry, to watch you crying over something as ridiculous as me. It pisses me off sometimes when I watch you, you're always caring. You care too much."

"I'm a doctor, it's my job to care," she mumbled, not really seeing where he was going.

"I said you care too much. Crying over someone like me is just plain stupid, and you're a doctor, you're supposed to be smart."

**You got that right, King. **

"I don't understand what you're trying to say, Ichigo-san. If this is about yesterday…when I…I…if this is about yesterday I can promise you it will never happen again!"

Ichigo turned his head to the left, so he could actually get a clear vision of his doctor. She wasn't looking at him, her head was bowed downwards towards her lap.

**She is **_**hot**_**. **

Ichigo winced, he didn't like when _he _spoke about her like that, he shook his head and continued on what he was about to say.

"It will though. It will happen again. Like I said Inoue, you care too much. I've never had a doctor who cared so much about their patients before, you're different…and…and I don't think…I don't think…" he licked his lips, wondering how he was going to say what he'd been building himself up to say all night, "I think I should get a new doctor."

**Are you fucking insane? Are you high? What the fuck do you think you're doing King?**

He ignored the voice, which sounded extremely angry, and focused his attentions on Orihime, who looked like she was about to go into cardiac arrest. She was sitting on the sofa with a look of pure horror etched onto her face, and at first Ichigo was worried that she really was in some sort of danger, then the look of horror faded away from her face, and a sad smile replaced it.

"Was I really…really that bad yesterday?"

"Eh?" Ichigo frowned at her, he hadn't been expecting her to say anything like that, "what are you talking about?"

"You don't want me as your doctor anymore…was I really that unprofessional last night, so unprofessional that you've lost all faith in me?"

Ichigo frowned at her words, she was doing it again, that reverse psychology thing she had to him the night before.

"_Tell me you want me to take you back," Orihime whispered quietly as she stared into his chocolate brown eyes. _

"_I want…" he trailed off slightly and his eyes stopped looking directly at Orihime, but they started to roam her body slowly, when he returned to looking at her eyes once again, his cheeks were stained with red and Orihime was pretty sure her own were as well, "I want you…"_

"_I want you to take me to wherever the hell your friends are so we can get this over with quickly!"_

"Well Ichigo-san? Is that it?" Orihime stared at him defiantly, her face still held that sad smile, but her chin was raised ever so slightly in the air, showing him that she wanted an answer. Well, she wanted more than that, she wanted the truth. He narrowed his eyes at her, she was good.

"No…"

"Then I don't see what the problem is," she stood up and smiled at him, and he could honestly say that her smile blew him away, "I'll tell you a secret Ichigo-san,"

**She wants to fuck you? Please be that.**

"I like you," _I love you,_ "You're one of my favourite patients", _I only have three, but seeing you every day makes my day,_ "and I made a promise when I started with you that I wouldn't stop until I've helped you to the best of my ability. And this is exactly what I'm going to do, whether you like it or not!" she pumped her fist in the air and pushed aside her unspoken thoughts, her main priority was her patients health and well being, her own emotions could not be allowed to play a part in this.

* * *

He seemed to be doing a lot of this nowadays, lying in his bed, sorting out his thoughts. His thoughts nowadays seemed to be revolving around one person though. His doctor.

**Kingy's got the hot's for Hime-chan? Huh?**

"Fuck off," Ichigo growled aloud as he rolled over onto his stomach, turning off his lamp as he went, "stop talking about her."

**Ya jealous King? **

Ichigo didn't reply, he wasn't jealous, he was worried. There were very few people Ichigo found himself truly caring for; his sisters, his father, that was about it, but now, now he couldn't help adding another name to that list. Orihime Inoue. And that fact scared him a little bit, he always ended up hurting those he cared about.

* * *

**A/N: **Ugh, I'm so sorry about this horrendously late update. School and home life is not going great right now for me, so this is the quickest I've been able to actually write up any of my ideas. Thank you to everyone whose reviewed so far, and please continuing doing so, you actually have no idea how much your reviews help me write. Thank you very much :)


	10. Isshin Remembers

**Summary:**Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital, a place for those deemed insane and beyond help. Can one determined healer prove them wrong and heal the one she loves?  
**Genre:**Romance/Hurt/Comfort/Angst [possible humor]  
**Warnings:**AU/Sex/Language/Mature Themes  
**Pairings:**Ichigo and Orihime

**AUTHORS NOTE:**Hello to anyone reading this, I don't really have much to say except that I hope you enjoy it, oh and thanks for reading this.

**A Schizophrenics Love**

**Chapter 10: **Isshin Remembers

"URUSAI!"

BANG.

"Good one son, but you're going to need to be faster to- OOMP!"

BANG.

"Idiots."

"Karin-chan, be nice to Daddy and Ichi-nii, they haven't seen each other in a while!"

Orihime had to fight the urge not to immediately call security to help separate Ichigo and Isshin. She'd met Ichigo's father and younger sisters a few times before and she knew now that this fighting was a common occurrence in their family. In some ways, she actually thought it was a good idea, it gave Ichigo some normalcy in his life. Too often she had worked with patients whose family members completely changed around them, as if they were afraid of setting them off. It was nice to see that Ichigo's family treated him exactly the same as before. At the moment, Orihime was seated around a table in one of the visiting rooms with Yuzu and Karin. Isshin and Ichigo was also in the room, but seemed oblivious to the girls as they had gotten into an argument about something that sounded like Ichigo's sex life. She had quickly zoned out of their conversation after that.

"Hey, Orihime-chan?"

Orihime smiled up at Karin, she had immediately taken to both of the twins the second she had met them. It was obvious that they both loved and adored their older brother. It was also painfully obvious how over protective Ichigo was of his two sisters, it may have been subtle, but Orihime was trained to notice things like this. She noticed how he would choose to sit between them, or how he would study their faces whilst talking to them, as if checking for any signs of harm. It was the type of behaviour that Sora used to be bestow upon her as a child.

"Yes Karin-chan, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Not really, I'm just a bit hungry, so I'm gonna go to the cafeteria quickly. You coming Yuzu?"

Yuzu nodded her head and the two girls pushed away from the table. Orihime bit her bottom lip,

"Ano…let me just call Ikkaku or somebody to escort you down there. It's not really safe for you two to go on your-"

Orihime stopped talking as she heard footsteps walking towards her.

"I'll take them," Ichigo said as he walked out the door, without even waiting for an answer from Orihime, or for his sisters to catch up. Before Orihime had a chance to protest this, both girls were out the door calling out,

"Ichi-nii…slow down!"

"Wait!" Orihime jumped up from her chair, sure that it wasn't allowed to let them go off on their own unsupervised.

"They'll be fine Orihime-chan, Ichigo will protect them," Isshin said wisely from the other end of the room. To tell the truth, Orihime had forgotten he was even there after Karin had announced she wanted to get some food. She nodded at Isshin, knowing that he was right and Ichigo wouldn't allow anything to harm his sisters. As she stood there staring at the older man, a light bulb flickered into life in her brain and she realised something important. This was her chance to find out some more information about Ichigo.

"Ah…Isshin-san, would you mind if I asked you a few questions?"

"You look so serious Orihime-chan, everything's okay with Ichigo isn't it?"

Orihime couldn't help but smile at the concern that flickered across Isshin's face at the thought that something was wrong with his son. Although they fought like cat and dog, the love Isshin had for Ichigo was undoubtedly there.

"Everything's fine with him," she reassured him, "I just want some more information about the day you brought him here, I think it might be able to help with his treatment."

"You really think you can help him, don't you?"

"I'm sure of it!"

Isshin smiled at Orihime, he liked her attitude, it was rubbing off on his son.

"Well what do you want to know?"

"Can you tell me what happened _exactly _on that day?"

Isshin's smile was instantly wiped off his face, and replaced with a pained grimace.

* * *

_June 17__th__ 2005_

"…_sh..should…should I get Ichi-nii?" Yuzu whispered to her sister and father. They were standing in the hallway of their house, getting ready to go to that place. Masaki's grave. Isshin opened his mouth to answer, but was stopped by the sound of racing footsteps. They all glanced towards the stairs to find Ichigo staring at them. He looked terrible. His eyes had large bags underneath them his blood shot eyes. His hair was a matted mess, even more than usual, as if he had literally just walked out of bed like that. The jeans he had thrown on were ripped and dirty, as was the t-shirt._

"_What?" he mumbled, avoiding eye contact with his family. Yuzu turned away and bit her lip to stop the tears from rolling out, it was killing her to see her Ichi-nii in the state that he was in, and she couldn't even do anything about it. Karin couldn't take her eyes off him, she couldn't believe this was the same boy who took her to play football in the park a month ago. What's happened to him, she thought sadly to herself as she stared at the broken wreck she used to call her brother. _

"_What?" he asked again, stepping forwards and not noticing the way his sisters flinched away from him, "why are you just standing there? I thought we were going…going to…going…" he swallowed thickly before saying, "I thought we needed to leave now?"_

_Isshin narrowed his eyes at his son, "we were just about to leave. I don't think it's wise for you to come though."_

_Ichigo's head snapped up and Isshin found himself recoiling away from the intense glare Ichigo was giving him. _

"_And why not?" he managed to hiss out through gritted teeth. He was on the verge of snapping, he could feel his self restraint slipping away from him as every second passed. _

"_Yuzu, Karin, go wait outside," Isshin muttered to his two daughters who were staring at their brother in a state of horror._

"_But Da-"_

"_Outside Karin," Isshin ordered one last time. Karin and Yuzu didn't need to be told another time, they both heard the serious tone of their father's voice. After shooting Ichigo another fearful glance, the two girls hurried out of the house, leaving Isshin and Ichigo staring at each other._

"_What are you doing?" Ichigo could feel his hold on reality slipping away, he could feel that other part of him seeping through the cracks and struggling to gain control over him._

"_That is what I should be asking you son. What are you doing? What's happened to you?"_

"_No..nothing! I'm fine, stop asking stupid questions and let's go."_

"_You are not leaving this house Ichigo, in the state you're in," his voice softened slightly and he took a few steps towards his son, "you're sisters are worried about you…I'm worried about you…your mother,"_

_Ichigo flinched and glared at his father, this didn't stop Isshin though, he needed to say this, "…your mother wouldn't want this from you Ichigo. I know…I know that you're still blaming yourself for her-"_

"_Urusai,"_

"_-for her death, but you need to move on-"_

"_Urusai,"_

"_-she wouldn't have wanted you to dwell on the past. It wasn't even your fault Ichigo…how many times to I have to tell you that?"_

"_URUSAI!" _

_That last shred of self control that he had was gone. He was gone. He allowed the beast within him to take control, to stop the pain. _

"_ICHIGO!" Isshin bellowed as Ichigo suddenly lunged out at him, pummelling him in the gut, "calm down Ichigo!" he yelled between blows. _

"_I told you to shut the fuck up!" he screamed sending a well aimed fist into his father's face. Shocked that his son would actually deliberately try and do damage to him, Isshin looked into Ichigo's eyes. What he saw shocked him, he didn't see his son, he saw hatred, rage and pent up anger swirling in his eyes. That was when Isshin knew it was time to get serious. He managed to use his lower body strength to kick Ichigo squarely in the guts and send him reeling across the room._

"_Fuck," Ichigo growled as he spat blood onto the floor, "what the fuck do you think you're doing old man?"_

_Isshin winced at his language, sure Ichigo was known to swear every now and then, but this was taking it over board. Whilst Ichigo was preoccupied with the blood he was coughing up, Isshin did a mad dash toward his clinic and found what he was looking for._

_Half and hour later, Isshin had managed to securely apprehend his son in masses of bandages and even a pair of handcuffs he had kept for more difficult patients. He hadn't accomplished this without injury though. By the time he was finished, Ichigo had given him two black eyes, a broken and bloodied nose, several fracture bones, and had somehow managed to inflict a large gash along his left cheek. Ichigo was still screaming profanities whilst Isshin towed him into the car._

"_LET ME GO YOU FUCKING BASTARD! I SWEAR, I'M GONNA ANNIALATE YOU WHEN I GET OUTTA HERE!"_

"_I..Ic…Ichi-nii?" Yuzu and Karin both stammered as they watched their brother being slammed into the car, "where are you taking Ichi-nii?"_

"_Your brother needs help," Isshin explained as he tried to drive the car as best he could with broken bones in his hands, "and it's not the type of help that we can provide."_

Orihime let out a deep breath she hadn't even realised she'd been holding as Isshin finished his sombre tale.

"To this day, I have no idea what snapped in him that day…what caused him to go crazy like that," Isshin shot Orihime a serious look, "Orihime-chan?"

"Yes Isshin-san?"

"Promise me you'll try your hardest to cure my son. We might not show it very often, but we miss Ichigo. I can't count the number of times Yuzu's gone to bed crying because she hasn't seen him for a week. We miss him."

Orihime nodded, "I promise you Isshin-san, I will do everything in my power to cure your son!"

Isshin smiled at the exuberant doctor, she had this way about her, that made you really believe she was going to do what she set out to do. No more was said on the matter of how Ichigo came to be at the hospital, but Isshin noticed a fiery determination in Orihime's eyes for the rest of the night and he somehow knew that his son had the best doctor for him.

* * *

**A/N: **Some of Ichigo's history for you ^_^ I just thought I'd let you know that this story actually has a real plot, as in something big shall be happening in the next few chapters. MAHAAHAHAA. Review please?


	11. News Report

**Summary:**Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital, a place for those deemed insane and beyond help. Can one determined healer prove them wrong and heal the one she loves?  
**Genre:**Romance/Hurt/Comfort/Angst [possible humor]  
**Warnings:**AU/Sex/Language/Mature Themes  
**Pairings:**Ichigo and Orihime

**AUTHORS NOTE:**Hello to anyone reading this, I don't really have much to say except that I hope you enjoy it, oh and thanks for reading this.

**A Schizophrenics Love**

**Chapter 11: **News Report

_Citizens are advised to be on the look out for wanted mass murderer, Aizen Sosuke. You are not under any circumstances recommended to approach him, if you happen to see him, retreat to a safe distance and call the police immediately. This madman has been on the run for several years now, and the police are calling for anyone who may have any information on his whereabouts. It is thought that he is being aided by two unnamed accomplices, but these reports have not been confirmed._

_For those of you who need reminding of Aizen's heinous acts, we, here at Channel 5 News have compiled a Case Study of why this man needs to be put behind bars. The following images are considered to be very graphic, and in some cases traumatising. It is recommended for younger children to turn away from their television sets._

The screen faded to black and sad slow music began playing. Slowly a picture of an outstandingly beautiful young blonde woman flashed across the screen.

_This is former model, Tia Harribel, she was a highly successful young woman with her whole life ahead of her, that was until Aizen got to her. It is unknown what possessed Aizen to erase the promising woman from the world, all we can do is mourn her death and hopefully learn from it._

The screen faded to black again, and the picture of an alive Tia faded away, replacing it with a much darker picture of the woman. She was lying in the street, her body drenched with rain and blood. Her eyes and mouth were wide open, as if she had been surprised by the attack and wasn't expecting it. A large, deep gash down the left side of her face distorted her beautiful features. But that wasn't the cause of death. A large gaping hole had been made through her left shoulder and it seemed she had been both stabbed and shot there several times before her body gave out. It was a brutal death that shocked the city.

The screen went dark again, the sad music still playing in the background, this time a picture of a young boy and girl. They were sitting in a park with huge beaming smiles on their faces. They looked so peaceful and happy.

_These two young angels are Hitsugaya Toshiro and Hinamori Momi, childhood friends. They were only ten years old when they were unlucky enough to have crossed Aizen's path. Whilst Aizen was busy fleeing the scene from a previous crime - a bank heist - Hitsugaya and Hinamori happened to be the only witnesses to his crime. It became obvious to the madman that he needed to eliminate the two children. _

_**WARNING THE NEXT IMAGE IS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC - VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED**_

The image of the two smiling children slowly faded away, become replaced with an image that made most of the viewers recoil away from their TV sets. First, the camera zoomed in to the lifeless body of Hinamori, there was a large hole in her chest that was overflowing with her blood. The coroner confirmed that she died immediately. The camera moved to the right and showed the barely recognisable body of Hitsugaya. Most of his body had been untouched, apart from his left arm and leg which had been brutally hacked off. The coroner regretfully informed the police that it was likely that he was alive throughout the dismemberment and had died shortly after. Then the camera panned out a bit further, to reveal the two dead bodies lying next to each other, their hands entwined with each others.

_These are only the most recent murders perpetrated by Aizen, throughout the better part of a decade we have been subject to murders, robbery's, attacks, amongst other crimes. It has been thought, though it is unconfirmed, that Aizen is responsible for the death of former Police Chief Kaien Shiba, his spouse, Miyako Shiba, and wife of veteran doctor, Masaki Kurosaki._

Orihime gasped, staring at the image of a woman that was now being played across the screen. _Ichigo's mother…_Orihime couldn't believe her eyes or ears. This didn't make any sense. The report specifically said that Masaki was killed by the serial killer, The Grand Fisher. Ichigo had even witnessed her death and had confirmed this. What on Earth did Aizen have to do with this? She leaned back on her chair, her mind racing at a 100 miles an hour.

_Maybe Ichigo got something wrong…but that doesn't make any sense. Why would he be so adamant about the killer just to have gotten it wrong? GAAAAH~ Ichigo-san, I wish you would open up to me more._

She been working there for almost six months now, and she hated to admit that she hadn't actually moved very far with him. True, he hadn't had any relapses into his alter personality since that one time in her office, and this was an improvement since he usually got into various fights with other patients, but he still hadn't opened up to her. They spoke. They spoke about a lot of things. About his sisters. About Tatsuki. About Nel. About a new recipe she had concocted the previous night. But they never went deeper than that. Orihime stood up and stretched, she needed to get Ichigo to open up to her, and she had an idea as to how to go about this. As she walked to her bedroom, she glanced at the calendar hovering near the light switch.

_June 14__th__…only three days left._

_

* * *

_**A/N: **Well, this is the shortest chapter so far, and I refuse to get any shorter than this...ever. Still, I like this chapter ^_^ Do you realise this has been three updates in two days? I AM ON FIRE ATM.

Anyway, please don't ever get worried and think I'll give up on this story because I won't. I'm sticking with it until it's finished! If I take a while to update, don't panic...just be patient and I'll be back. I hate when authors just abandon their stories so I'll never do that :)

Please continue doing your lovely reviewing guys :)


	12. Orihime vs Grimmjow

**Summary:**Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital, a place for those deemed insane and beyond help. Can one determined healer prove them wrong and heal the one she loves?  
**Genre:**Romance/Hurt/Comfort/Angst [possible humor]  
**Warnings:**AU/Sex/Language/Mature Themes  
**Pairings:**Ichigo and Orihime

**AUTHORS NOTE:**Hello to anyone reading this, I don't really have much to say except that I hope you enjoy it, oh and thanks for reading this.

**A Schizophrenics Love**

**Chapter 12: **Orihime vs. Grimmjow

People often assumed Nel was a bit slow due to her mental state of mind. She didn't really care about what people thought of her, and for the most part, she played up to their assumptions after finding it often got her gifts and special treatment. Of course, it wasn't true. Nel was an extremely intelligent and attentive young woman, even in he self imposed five year old form. Orihime soon found that Nel had an incredible knack for noticing things, even if she didn't realise the significance of what she noticed.

"Ichi was smiling today," she blurted out in an absent minded tone during her session with Orihime. Orihime had set her the task of painting herself a timeline of her life, in an attempt to learn more about her troubled past. Nel herself was hunched over her work, her brows furrowed and her tongue sticking out her mouth as she tried to concentrating on painting her picture. She hadn't said much since she had started painting, only the odd word or so.

"Hm? What was that Nel-chan? I didn't quite hear you?"

Nel didn't say anything for a few minutes, and Orihime began to wonder if she had just imagined Nel speaking.

"Nel said, Ichi was smiling today," she still didn't look up at Orihime as she spoke. Orihime frowned slightly, not understanding the significance of what Nel was saying and why she was speaking in such a worried tone.

"Well…that's good…isn't it Nel-chan?"

Again, there was silence after Orihime asked her question and Orihime had to wonder what had gotten into Nel today. Normally she was so talkative and it was almost impossible to get her to quieten down and concentrated. Nel paused for a moment before dropping her paintbrush and turning to face Orihime. Orihime was shocked to see that her usual excited grin was gone from her face, and instead place with a thoughtful and brooding look. It was rather odd to see her looking so serious.

"Nel doesn't think it was a real smile…Ichi was pretending…I don't like it when Ichi pretends."

"And what makes you think that Nel-chan? People can smile you know, they smile for lots of different reasons. You're always smiling aren't you?"

Nel sighed and shook her head, as if she was frustrated that Orihime wasn't understanding her. Orihime couldn't help but smile at her actions, it was a sort of role reversal.

"Ori-himay doesn't understand!" Nel puffed out her cheeks and them blew the air into Orihime's face before getting down onto her knees and crawling over to her, "every time Ichi smiles like that, Ichi gets hurt and….and… and Nel gets scared!"

"Nel-chan, wha- Nel!" Orihime was startled to see Nel suddenly burst into loud noisy tears, she got up and enveloped the young woman in a tight embrace, "ssh," she murmured as she gently rubbed her shaking back, "ssh Nel-chan, why are you crying? Huh?"

"C…ca…cause Nel doesn't want Ichi to get hurt agaaain!"

"Hurt?"

"Ye…yeah, like when he fighted with Grimmjow or when he cutted himself and he was bleeding for ages! Nel doesn't want that to happen this time!"

It took a moment for the information to register in Orihime's head, but she soon understood what Nel was talking about. Today June 16th. Tomorrow would be June 17th, and there hadn't been one June 17th since Ichigo arrived at the hospital where something didn't occur. And Nel was worried about him. _That's sweet_, Orihime thought with a small smile as she carried on trying to soothe her, _she really does care about him quite a lot_.

"Ori-himay? You…you have to look after Ichi, okay? You have to make sure he's alright. Ichi trusts you. Ichi will listen to you."

"I promise to try, Nel-chan. I promise to try."

* * *

Orihime gently closed Nel's bedroom door, before making her way down the corridor to find Ulquiorra for his session. After she had finally gotten Nel to calm down, Nel had gone back to painting her picture; which ended up not being a timeline, but a picture of her (Nel), Ichigo, Orihime, and her brothers, all smiling up from the paper.

"Inoue-san!"

Orihime turned around to find Ikkaku running towards her with a relieved expression on his face, "I'm glad I caught you before you got to Ulquiorra,"

"Hello Ikkaku-san, can I help you with anything?" Orihime asked politely, she hadn't really spoken to Ikkaku much since her first day, she'd never needed any security help which she was extremely thankful for. Ikkaku nodded,

"Yeah, Unohana-sama wants to speak with you quickly, she asked me to come find you before you got to Ulquiorra."

Orihime's heart started beating erratically as she followed Ikkaku down the corridor to Unohana's office, what on Earth did she have to say to her, as far as she could remember she hadn't done anything wrong. She hadn't broken any rules. Well, there was the minor issue with her confusing relationship with Ichigo, but since that night when she had taken him out, there had been no issues with her professionalism and she had done her best to quell her feelings and emotions around him. _Maybe he's noticed how I feel and he's complained about me!_

"Oh no," she muttered aloud, for now she was sure that was the reason for Unohana calling her into her office. _I'm going to lose my job, _she could feel her palms getting sweaty, she was about to start hyperventilating.

"Inoue-san?"

Orihime jumped slightly as Ikkaku's voice floated into her ear, interrupting her from her mutinous thoughts.

"We're here…"

"Oh…oh…thanks Ikkaku-san," she gulped as she turned and faced the ominous door, sure that if she entered the room she would leave without a job. Ikkaku seemed to sense her hesitance to enter the office, so he chuckled,

"There's no need to look so worried, Inoue-san, I'm sure whatever Unohana-sama wants to talk to you about is just a formality."

Orihime smiled nervously at the bald security guard, though still not feeling totally reassured. She took a deep breath before knocking on the door three times. There was silence for a fraction of a second before a clear and commanding voice rang out,

"You may enter!"

And Orihime entered the room to face her doom.

"Hello Unohana-sama," Orihime bowed politely to her boss as she entered the room.

"Ah Orihime-san, I'm glad Ikkaku caught you before your session with Ulquiorra, I just wanted to have a quick word with you. Take a seat please,"

Orihime nervously took a seat opposite Unohana.

"Now, I'm sure you can guess why I've called you in here today of all days?"

Orihime gulped, fearing her suspicions were true.

"It's about Ichigo…"

Orihime was sure her heart missed a few beats when Unohana said his name, she felt sure she was going to be fired.

"…I want you to take extra care with him for the next few days, tomorrow especially."

"Eh?" now _those _were not the words she expected to hear coming out of Unohana's mouth, she was expecting something more along the lines of, _you've behaved in an extremely unprofessional manner, you are hereby fired from this job, and your medical license has been revoked!_

"Yes, you've read his case history I'm sure?"

Orihime nodded.

"Then you will be familiar with the fact that a July 17th has not occurred at this hospital since Ichigo arrived without an incident involving him. Tomorrow, of course is the anniversary of his mothers death and we suspect that this may be the cause of his behavioural problems on this day. You have done a marvellous job with him in your short period here, we've only had one incident with him haven't we? That is a massive improvement and I congratulate you on that, but I'm afraid their will be an incident tomorrow, or perhaps even today, so I need you to be on full alert."

Orihime felt like a huge load had been lifted off her shoulders and she nodded eagerly at Unohana, "of course I will!"

Unohana smiled at her exuberant doctor, it really was refreshing to see a doctor so in to their patients well being, "excellent. I've informed Ichigo's father that it will be you taking Ichigo to the cemetery tomorrow, so there shall be no problems there,"

Orihime nodded once more, earlier in the week she had been informed that Ichigo visited his mothers grave every year and normally Unohana accompanied him since she had been his previous doctor, but Orihime had requested that she be allowed to go instead of Unohana since she was his doctor now.

"Very well then, I won't keep you any longer from your meeting with Ulquiorra, thank you Orihime-san."

* * *

It took her a while to find Ulquiorra. He wasn't in his bedroom, or her meeting room, or even the library. She frowned as she walked briskly around the hospital, he knew they had an appointment so it wasn't logical that he wasn't in one of their various meeting places. She had about to begin panicking and call in to security, when she popped her head into one of the recreational rooms and found Ulquiorra. Unfortunately he wasn't alone. Ulquiorra was standing in the middle of the room with his arms crossed and his usual bored expression on his face, standing opposite him was an extremely angry looking Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. Orihime froze in the doorway as she watched to two men arguing with each other, or more…she watched Grimmjow screaming profanities at Ulquiorra whilst he stood there watching as if nothing fazed him. Orihime was about to edge out of the room to try and find a member of security before things escalated out of control, but she was stopped by the words she heard hiss out of Grimmjow's mouth.

"Why don't ya go off yourself huh? You fucking pussy!"

Before Orihime even registered what she was doing, she had whirled around and stormed angrily back into the room. Ulquiorra was her patient, no matter how moody and unresponsive he was, and she would not allow his illness to be mocked in that way. Who knew what damage those few words could have afflicted upon the sullen man?

"Jaegerjaquez-san! I'm going to have to ask you to leave this room, immediately!" her voice had an icy chill to it that sounded foreign to her, even Ulquiorra seemed to recognise the change in her voice for he turned towards her and slightly raised his eyebrow. It didn't seem to have the desired effect on Grimmjow however, instead of being fearful of her, a sadistic grin played at his features as he turned to face her.

_He has a thing for women_, Orihime recalled as she watched a Grimmjow began slowly eyeing her body up, _perhaps this wasn't the best of ideas_.

"And who the fuck are you?"

Orihime narrowed her eyes and stepped a bit further towards him, "I am Doctor Inoue, Ulquiorra-san's doctor, and I cannot allow you to abuse him like this. I'm not going to ask you again, please leave."

Grimmjow's grin only stretched further across his face at his words,

"Another bitch doctor huh? Another whore who likes to be in control? Is that what you like doctor?" he laughed maniacally, "well fuck me, this is just my lucky day, huh?"

"Grimmjow," Ulquiorra said in a warning tone that was barely above a whisper.

"Shut the _fuck _up you emo piece of shit, I'll deal with you later," he licked his lips sensually as she took in Orihime's now shivering body, "I need to deal with _this _first."

"Jaegerjaquez-san," Orihime said hesitantly, not liking the look he had in his eyes, it was almost predatory.

"You know what I hate more than anything?" he growled as he took a few short steps closer towards Orihime, "I hate a bitch who thinks she the boss of me. You know what I love more than anything?" he was crackling his knuckles together now, "I love taking the bitch down a few levels. I love letting her know whose really boss!"

Before she even had a chance to react he bent down low, like a cat getting ready to jump, and suddenly pounced on top of her. She felt the glass digging in to her face before she heard the smash, belatedly she wondered what is was he had pushed her in to, all she knew was that an incredible pain was searing through her face and out of the corner of her eye she could see Grimmjow was coming back for more. She slowly started to push herself up from the ground, trying to get away.

"Grimmjow!" Ulquiorra's warning was louder this time, but Grimmjow still took know notice.

"FUCK OFF ULQUIORRA! She's getting up, she's fine…see?" he chuckled once more as he got into his pouncing position again, "maybe this time the bitch'll know to stay down?" he gave a slight roar this time as he jumped and Orihime squeezed her eyes tightly, waiting for the collision that never came. Instead she heard a dull thud and when she opened her eyes she saw Ulquiorra standing defensively in front her and Grimmjow standing a few feet back, nursing his jaw.

"You are not to touch her!" Ulquiorra said in his monotone voice, though Orihime could detect a bit of emotion behind his words. In the background she could here shouts and the sound of feet running towards them, alerting her to the fact that security were on their way. Shakily, Orihime stood up, feeling her face as she went. As far as she could tell, she'd gotten glass embedded just below her left eye. She did a quick scope of the room and realised the glass had come from the window pane in the door behind her, _he smashed me into the door_, she realised in wonder, she was really quite surprised that more damage hadn't been done.

"Well whaddaya know? Emo boy can actually fight! So you're not the big pussy I thought you were before, nice ta know, but you made a big fucking mistake. Don't fucking touch me, now I gotta kill ya!"

Thankfully, before Grimmjow had the chance to at least try to act out his statement, the door behind them burst open and several men came running in.

"Oi, Grimmjow, I told ya didn't I? If ya wanna fight with someone, I'm always up for it. Don't start beating on the other patients!" a tall man with an elaborate hairstyle growled as he held Grimmjow in a vice grip, "you're just making my job harder now! Unohana's gonna be pissed with you, ya know?"

"Shut the fuck up Zaraki," Grimmjow growled as he was forcibly dragged out of the room by the head of security, Zaraki Kenpachi, "you…woman. Don't think I've forgotten about you, I'm gonna finish with you later…FUCK!" he keeled over in Zaraki's grip as Zaraki shot out an arm and punched him in the gut to silence him.

"Inoue-san"?

Orihime turned around to find Ikkaku standing with Ulquiorra by his side,

"I'm going to take Ulquiorra back to his room now, too much excitement isn't really good for him."

"Oh, of course, thanks Ikkaku-san," she turned and faced Ulquiorra, "and thank you Ulquiorra, that was extremely brave and kind of you."

Ulquiorra said nothing to acknowledge her words of thanks, instead he said, "you are bleeding," before Ikkaku led him out of the room.

When he was out of earshot and she was finally alone in the room, Orihime let out a frustrated sigh, _he's another one_, she thought, _he's another one I can't understand. Every now and then, he seems almost…almost human…and then he just reverts back to his old self_. It also occurred to her that she hadn't had the sense of mind to even find out what he and Grimmjow were arguing about. Berating herself for her foolish actions, Orihime left the room, heading downstairs to the medical department so she could get the cut on her face sorted out.

* * *

**A/N: **See, Ulquiorra can do nice things sometimes ^_^ Review for me please?


	13. June 17th

**Summary:**Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital, a place for those deemed insane and beyond help. Can one determined healer prove them wrong and heal the one she loves?  
**Genre:**Romance/Hurt/Comfort/Angst [possible humor]  
**Warnings:**AU/Sex/Language/Mature Themes  
**Pairings:**Ichigo and Orihime

**AUTHORS NOTE:**Hello to anyone reading this, I don't really have much to say except that I hope you enjoy it, oh and thanks for reading this.

**A Schizophrenics Love**

**Chapter 13: **June 17th.

Neither of them got much sleep that night. She was up psyching herself out for the next day, by reading and then rereading Ichigo's case files. It hadn't hit her until late into the night how vulnerable Ichigo became every June 17th, he was like a live wire, the slightest trigger and he would go off on a wild spree, and she was in charge of him. Unohana had told her how it was highly likely that he could flare up and have an episode at any moment, she was going to be there to make sure that didn't happen. Unohana had asked her repeatedly if she was sure she wanted to be the one to go with him, and she had stubbornly insisted that she be the one to go. Now, she wondered if that had been the wisest of decisions, perhaps her feelings that urged her to get to know him better were clouding her professional decisions? Then there was the incident with Ulquiorra and Grimmjow. Tatsuki had had a fit when she had returned home with four stitches on her cheek. It had taken ages to calm the feisty woman and assure her that she was perfectly fine, and that she was a doctor now and it was perfectly normal for her to be involved in incidents every now and then. All the same, she was really looking forward to explaining to Ichigo the new additions to her face, she had a sneaking suspicion he would be harder to placate.

He never slept on June 16th. He always found it impossible to, knowing what the next day would bring. Even if he had wanted to sleep, he knew there was no way he would've been able to, there was just too much on his mind. More than usual actually.

**Pissed cause ya didn't see **_**her **_**today, aren't ya?**

Ichigo narrowed his eyes, partly because he hated the extra voice in his head and this was a normal reaction, and partly because for once, _he was right_.

**No point tryna ignore me Kingy, I can read you like a book. I don't blame ya for missing her, she's a fucking **_**goddess**_**. Hell, even I'm pissed that I didn't get to see her today. I wonder what she was wearing today, she always wear's tight clothes, so you can see her fucking tits, and that ass…damn, I wish-**

"Shut UP!"

**Ooh, touchy aren't we? **

Ichigo heard the voice snigger slightly, "don't talk about her like that. You don't have the right to talk about her like that!" Ichigo winced inwardly at the sound of his own voice, he sounded so damn protective, like a father, or older brother, or even a lover.

**Don't make me laugh, King. **_**A lover**_**? Get your head outta your ass. You forgotten where you are, Kingy? You forgotten who she is…what she is? She's your fucking doctor, **_**a lover? **_**Only in your dreams. And trust me, she is in your dreams.**

Ichigo blushed at his words, it was annoying having this extra personality within his mind, he couldn't hide anything. And if his counter part thought it was something that would bring him discomfort, he was sure to bring it up. Like now for instance.

**You might not remember your dreams, but I do. I can describe them for you if ya want? Graphically? Or even better**, he paused for a moment and Ichigo got the feeling like he was grinning sadistically to himself, **or even better, how about the next time **_**I**_** see Hime-chan, I demonstrate what you dream about first hand, huh? Yeah, I like that idea, I can finally get some action. **

A low, feral growl built up in Ichigo's chest, and not for the first time, he wished his counter part was a tangible being, just so he could beat the crap out of him at times like this. It physically made him sick to hear him speaking about Orihime that way.

**Shut the fuck up you pussy, don't try and act like we're separate entities. I don't know what the fuck caused you to invent me up, I swear most nine year olds choose cute and cuddly things as their imaginary friends, but you got me now, so deal with it. My thoughts…your thoughts…they're all the same fucking thing, you just choose to repress yours. That's your fucking problem, I keep telling ya King, you'd have a lot more fun if you took a leaf outta my book and let loose every now 'n' then. You probably be fucking that doctor of yours by now. **

Ichigo felt something snap inside of him at these words, "I'm nothing like you. We're not the same thing. And I swear to God, if you speak about her like that…I _will _find a way to kill you."

There was silence for a few moments, and he wondered if his threat had actually succeeded in shutting up the obnoxious voice.

**I told you King, we're the same thing. Kill me? Kill yourself first, and I'll be damned before I ever let you do that. But you're getting pissed now, so I'm gonna let you rest now so you'll be alert for all the fun tomorrow. **

And with those emotionless words, he faded off into the back of Ichigo's subconscious, leaving Ichigo alone with his confusing thoughts.

_June 17__th__, _he thought as he got comfortable on his bed, _I'm sorry…._

_

* * *

_

"What the hell happened to you?"

Orihime winced slightly at the harsh tone in his voice, that didn't help much because the stitches across her face stretched a little, bringing a tiny amount of pain that made her gasp slightly. That in turn caused his scowl to stretch even further across his face. She knew he would react like this.

"Good morning Ichigo-san," she said quietly as she lifted her car keys up into the air, pressing the button to unlock the doors, "we should get going now, otherwise we're going to be late". Truth be told, she was scared. She didn't want him to flare up and lose himself.

She quickly sidestepped him and slid into her seat in the car, purposely avoiding looking at him for she knew he was scowling in annoyance at the fact that she hadn't answered his question. Within seconds she heard the opposite door being jerked open roughly, then she heard him slide in before slamming the door behind him.

"Inoue," his voice had a sharp edge to it that made Orihime shiver, "what the hell happened to your face?"

Orihime debated on whether she should tell him the real reason she had four stitches across her cheek, but in the end she relented, not wanting to push him any further. In just the few minutes she had already been with him that day, he was already showing extreme signs of stress; he was balling his fists up and then unclenching them, he wasn't making eye contact with her, and he had snapped at her. That was the strangest thing of all, he had never lost patience with her before, and this scared her a little.

"Um, you remember how I missed our meeting yesterday?"

He grunted to show that he was listening and had indeed remembered the way their meeting was cancelled. She gulped and laced her fingers together before continuing,

"Well, there was an incident with Ulquiorra-san that I had to deal with…and things got a bit out of control…"

"And…" he growled after it became clear that she had planned to end her little tale there.

"Grimmjow and Ulquiorra-san were having an argument and I stepped in and…" she laughed grimly and pointed to her stitches, "and I ended up with these. It's not a problem, really! O-okay, Ichigo-san?" she added hastily after noticing that he had suddenly fell silent and a dark aura was emanating from him. He said nothing, and after a while she gave up hope of conversation began to switch her car on so they could get moving. About five minutes into their journey, he finally spoke again.

"Who did it?"

"Eh?"

"Whose fault was it that you have those stitches? Ulquiorra or Grimmjow?"

"…Grimmjow," she said quietly, she knew it wasn't wise to tell him who had caused the damage, especially given the reputation he had with Grimmjow, but right now she was just trying to concentrate on keeping him happy to prevent him from losing control, "…when he pushed me into the window, I'm sure it was an accident though, he wouldn't do that on-"

"Nothing is ever a fucking accident with Grimmjow," he mumbled a string of curses attached to Grimmjow's name that made Orihime gasp. She could tell he was still in control of himself, but she could also tell that he was getting very, very, close to losing it.

"Ichigo!" she reached out across the seats and rested her arm on his knee, mimicking her actions on the night she took him out, she squeezed his knee reassuringly, not noticing the way he suddenly froze at the sudden contact, "I…I know this is a tough day for you…and I know that you're on edge, but you _need _to try and keep calm. Please?"

She got no verbal reply, but within a matter of seconds she felt a hand tentatively hovering over her own, before it rested on top of hers and squeezed in answer to her question. They sat in silence for the rest of journey to the cemetery, with both of them fighting a blush.

* * *

"Good afternoon, Isshin-san, Karin-chan, Yuzu-chan," Orihime bowed politely to Ichigo's family when they finally arrived at the cemetery, "I hope you weren't waiting for too long, I got a little lost," she scratched the back of her head sheepishly.

"Don't worry Orihime-chan, we just got here about 10 minutes ago, goat chin couldn't find his cigarettes," Karin shot her father an annoyed glance, and Orihime remembered what Ichigo had told her about his father only smoking in front of his mother's grave once a year.

"Hey Ichi-nii," Yuzu said timidly as she glanced up at her elder brother. He hadn't said a word to anyone after they got to the cemetery, the only sign he made to show that he even acknowledged the presence of his family was the fact that he nodded at them when he and Orihime had arrived. His family didn't seem to mind his odd behaviour, in fact they seemed used to it, which made Orihime think his behaviour was a somewhat regular factor for this day.

"Right!" Isshin clapped his hands together, "we should get going…Son?" he gestured for Ichigo to lead the way, which he did wordlessly. Orihime and the rest of them hung back until he was a few feet ahead of them, then they began walking.

"It was really nice of you to bring Ichi-nii, Orihime-chan, he seems better than last time," Yuzu sighed slightly as she looked after Ichigo with a reproachful look on her face that Karin also wore.

"Better? Is he normally worse than this?" Orihime asked surprised, not imagining that Ichigo could be any more withdrawn than he was acting. They all nodded solemnly,

"Normally he doesn't even acknowledge us, he just runs off quickly, says what he has to say to Mummy, then he goes and waits in the car. But he seems better this time, I think you have a good effect on him Orihime-chan," Yuzu beamed up at Orihime, oblivious to the flustered glances Orihime was given her after her praising mini speech.

When they eventually reached Masaki's grave, Orihime had not expected Ichigo to still be sitting there, from Yuzu's words she had expected him to be waiting by the car already, but he was still there. He was sitting in front of her grave, cross legged with a serene smile on his face. Isshin, Yuzu and Karin exchanged wary looks with each other before deciding not to comment. One by one, they each stepped in front of Masaki's grave and said what they had to say. Yuzu had baked loads of sweet things and had spent the previous day picking flowers, she laid them on her mothers grave before speaking quietly about how her life had been going. Karin went next, she pulled out some trophies she'd won from various sporting events and spoke about that for a while. After Karin, went Isshin, he lit his cigarette and just stood there, staring at the grave with a sombre expression on his face. Nobody said anything about his unusual behaviour, so Orihime assumed it was, again, a usual occurrence for the Kurosaki family. She felt a little awkward standing on the sidelines watching such an intimate family moment, so she busied herself with the strands of grass beneath her feet. She felt like she was intruding on their private conversations.

"Orihime-chan…"

"Hm?" Orihime glanced up to find Yuzu grinning at her,

"We're ready to leave now."

Orihime nodded before glancing over at Ichigo to find that he was still in the same position he had been in when they had reached the gravestone.

"Uh, Ichigo-san," she said hesitantly as she approached him, "we're getting ready to go now, so-"

"I'm staying for a bit longer".

"Oh," she bit her lip nervously, really, there wasn't any reason as to why they couldn't stay for a little while longer, Unohana hadn't specified a time she needed to have him back at the hospital. Making her mind up, she turned around to where Isshin and his sisters were waiting,

"Ah Gomenasai, but Ichigo-san want's to stay a little while longer."

She had expected them to move back to the gravestone and sit with Ichigo, but instead Yuzu and Karin ran up to their brother, embraced him in a hug that he didn't return, and then they returned back to Isshin.

"He needs time alone," Isshin answered Orihime's questioning gaze, "he just needs to sort his thoughts out."

"Isshin-san, what happened to Ma-"

Isshin shook his head, cutting her off, "Orihime-chan, I know what you're going to say, and I'm afraid that's something you have to talk to Ichigo about…Ichigo, we'll see you sometime next week, okay?"

Ichigo made no move to imply that he'd heard or even listened to his father.

"Bye Orihime-chan, see you later," Isshin, Yuzu, and Karin echoed before walking off to their car, leaving Orihime alone with a brooding Ichigo.

_Okay Orihime, you can do this, don't be too forceful, respect his privacy, but try and get him to open up…if that's even possible_.

"Are you going to sit down?"

Orihime jumped at the sound of his voice, it was a kind of déjà vu situation, very similar to the first time they had met each other. He had made no movement to suggest that he heard her sneaking up behind him, and yet he somehow knew she was there.

"If you don't mind," she said shyly, she suddenly felt extremely self conscious around him. She waited a few moments, but after he said nothing she decided that he didn't have a problem with her sitting down next to him.

"Good afternoon, Masaki-san," she said brightly as she stared at the gravestone in front of her, "I'm Inoue Orihime, I'm Ichigo's doctor and…and…and his friend, it's very nice to meet you finally."

"She's nice, isn't she?" Ichigo mumbled, and Orihime wasn't sure if he was talking about his mother…or if he was talking about her. They sat in silence for a few minutes, just relishing the comforting and relaxing area they were in.

"I miss her," Ichigo said eventually, "more than usual. Why is that?"

"Um…" she wasn't sure if he was talking directly to her, or if he was just saying aloud his thoughts. He didn't seem to mind that she hadn't given him an answer, he carried on speaking.

"Has anyone told you how she died? Hm, Inoue?"

"No, I asked your father…but he said-"

"He said to ask me?"

"Yeah, but you don't have to tell me if you're not ready, or if you don't want to," she added quickly, not wanting him to feel like she was pressuring him into talking.

"It was my fault really," he said, again ignoring her protests, it was like he wasn't really registering that she was there, as if he just needed to get something off his chest, "if I wasn't there, she'd be alive right now…"

* * *

_It was raining. At that point in his life he had loved the rain, he had loved splashing through the puddles and creating adventures, sometimes he was a pirate, other times he was a merman. But that all changed that day, from that day onwards he began to associate the rain with death and despair, and nothing was ever the same again. _

"_Ichigo!"_

_The nine year old Ichigo stopped mid jump and turned to look at the woman who was hurrying up behind him. Immediately a smile broke out on his face as he watched his mother walking over to him. He was so proud to call her his mother, she was the kindest, most sensitive and prettiest mother around, and he took pleasure in knowing that half the kids in his class were jealous of him. _

"_Don't run off so far Ichigo, otherwise I can't see you," she said when she reached him. His smile grew wider as he nodded and continued jumping into the puddles as they walked, careful to abide by her rules and not stray too far. He had been thinking about what he would choose for his dessert after dinner when he heard it. He heard the sound of smashing glass, and then the sound of someone screaming. Before he could barely register it, he was running through the rain towards the sounds of the screams. He'd always been like that, always wanting to protect someone, it was just a natural instinct for him. He barely even heard the sound of Masaki yelling after him to stop. The sound of the smashing glass led him down into an alleyway. They should've been the first warning sign._

"_He..hello?" he called into the alleyway as he stepped further in, "I heard someone screaming…?" Instead of hearing someone calling out for help, he heard the deep sign of someone laughing throatily, and then someone stepped out of the shadows. Whenever he thought back on it now, he realised that he probably should've ran then. A tall man crept out of the shadows, and Ichigo instantly recognised him. He was the man who had been on all the news channels recently, he was the man his parents tittered about in disgust over the dinner table. He was the Grand Fisher. A serial killer. Ichigo gulped as he watched the murderer stalk closer to him. Every logical thought was telling him to get out of there, run back to safety, run back to his mother, but he couldn't force his body to move, it was like he was paralyzed._

"_He was right, this is gonna be easier than I thought," the Grand Fisher laughed as he stepped towards the quivering boy, "sorry kid, but you gotta go," he raised his left arm, revealing a hand gun. Ichigo gasped before squeezing his eyes shut, he was going to die, he would never see his mother again…or his father…or his two baby sisters. _

"_Ichigo!"_

_He could hear her voice now, tears started escaping as he realised he would never have to opportunity to hear her call his name again. _

"_Ichigo!" _

_BANG_

_Dying was odd. He felt exactly the same, as if he hadn't been hit at all. He heard the sounds of sirens, then he heard the steps of footsteps and then someone pushed past him, knocking him to the floor. That wasn't right…if he'd been shot he would've been on the floor already, right? He slowly opened his eyes and looked around, he wasn't dead. He was alive. He hadn't been shot! A blast of happiness surged through his body at the revelation, only for him to realise that he'd heard the sound of a gun shot. The Grand Fisher had definitely shot at him. He looked downwards…_

"…_Mum…Mummy?" _

_It was at that moment where something snapped inside him. _

"_Mummy!" he screamed as he knelt down in the rain and began checking his mother for a pulse. There was blood, so much blood, oozing out of a hole in her forehead. _

"_WAKE UP! MUMMY, WAKE UP!" he began shaking her lifeless body, it was ironic, but she still felt warm, as if she was just sleeping._

"_PLEASE! I'm promise! I promise I won't run off anymore, please…please wake UP!" _

_He didn't know how long he had stayed like that, shaking his dead mother and begging her to wake up, but the next thing he remembered was being dragged away screaming from his mother by a nameless police officer._

_I'm sorry!_

_

* * *

_

"Ichigo-san…Ichigo-san!" Orihime shook his shoulders gently trying to get him to come back to reality. He had finished his tale about ten minutes ago, and after that he had just sat there, staring into the distance with a tortured look on his face. It killed her to watch him come apart like that in front of her, and to know the cause of his mental instability, well it didn't surprise her that he had developed multiple personality disorder and mild schizophrenia. In fact, she was quite surprised that he managed to control himself as well as he did.

"Ichigo-san, please…please talk to me," she begged as she crawled around in front of him and grabbed his hands, "please, I can't help you if you don't even talk to me!"

He turned and faced her with an odd look on his face that she couldn't quite understand? Hate? Love? Anguish? Torment? Anger? Sadness? It looked like it was a little bit of all of them.

"Ichi-"

"How can you sit here, and talk to me like I'm not a disgraceful excuse for a human being? Even now…now that you know what I've done?"

Orihime frowned, "Done? Ichigo-san, you haven't done anything!"

Ichigo growled before suddenly standing up and pushing himself away from her, "don't give me that crap Inoue. Don't sit there and try and tell me that it's not my fault that she's dead, she _told _me not to run off! She told me! But I didn't listen, I ran off…and look where that got me. Alive and well, and where's she…dead!"

He was getting louder and louder with each word he spoke, and Orihime began to worry that someone would get annoyed with them, they were in a graveyard after all.

"Ichigo-san, I'm not going to tell you it's not your fault-"

"Good, cause it was my fault."

Orihime ignored him and continued with what she was saying, "…because I know that won't do you any good. But I will say this, your mother loved you, didn't she?"

Ichigo hesitated before nodding stiffly.

"Exactly, she loved you. Isn't dying for someone you love better than letting that person die?"

"Nobody dying at all seems better to me."

Orihime huffed and stood up, taking a few steps closer to him, "you're being difficult on purpose Ichigo-san. Why won't you let me care for you?" she took another step towards him, "please, let me in?" she was standing directly in front of him now. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed both of his hands and held them within her own, even giving him a reassuring squeeze. He stiffened almost immediately, before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath he growled,

"Don't. Touch. Me."

"W-what?"

"Don't touch me," he growled yet again, roughly dropping her hands and taking a step back, "take me back. Now."

He didn't miss the look of pain and hurt that flickered across her face at his harsh words, before she bit her bottom lip and nodded wordlessly, but he didn't have the time to worry about it, he could already feel himself losing it. He needed to get away from her.

_Sorry Inoue…but I already said, I always end up hurting those I care about._

With one last quick glance at his mothers grave, Ichigo and Orihime silently made their way back to the hospital.

* * *

She was lying in bed trying to fathom out his odd behaviour when she got the phone call.

"Sorry to bother you Inoue-san, it's Nanao-san, from the hospital?"

"Oh yes, right. Good evening Nanao-san, is there anything I can do for you?"

"I know this is extremely unorthodox, but Unohana-sama has requested that you come in urgently. We've had several incidents occurring within the last hour,"

Orihime felt a sense of foreboding at Nanao's words,

"…with Ichigo-san, Grimmjow-san, and Ulquiorra-san, since two of those patients are yours, Unohana-sama asked if you would be so kind as to return to the hospital to help us restore order…it got pretty nasty in there."

Orihime was already out the door before Nanao had finished speaking.

* * *

"Thank you for coming in on such short notice!" Unohana said as she and Orihime walked down towards where the patients were, "security were on high alert tonight, so that's lucky, otherwise I'm afraid this could have turned out much worse."

Orihime nodded shakily, "what happened Unohana-sama? Nanao-san said that Ulquiorra-san was involved, that doesn't sound like him at all!"

Unohana shook her head, "no, no, you misunderstood. Ichigo and Grimmjow were a separate event entirely. Ulquiorra seemed to have taken advantage of the commotion…he tried to take his life yet again."

"No…" Orihime felt her heart plummet as Unohana spoke those words, "why, why would he do that? I really…I really thought he was getting better!"

Unohana shrugged, "that is something you'll have to ask him, he often has moments when we naively hope he is recuperating, and then he'll do something like this. You mustn't blame yourself, nobody could've predicted this."

Her words weren't consoling, she still felt like it was somehow her fault that he had had such a detrimental relapse, "where is he? Can I talk to him?"

She shook her head again, "I'm afraid not, he's had to be heavily sedated and is currently resting, you won't be able to talk to him till tomorrow. Anyway, although his condition is of importance, he his stable right now and will be fine, he is not the reason I called you here tonight. I'm sure Nanao-san informed you that there was also an altercation between Ichigo and Grimmjow?"

"Ye…yes, she did say that…I'm sorry Unohana-sama!" she apologized.

"What on earth are you apologizing for?"

"I..Ichigo-san was my responsibility today, I was meant to keep him from harm today, and I failed my job."

To her surprise, Unohana chuckled a little bit, "Orihime-chan, I can assure you that Ichigo has not harmed himself today-"

"But I tho-"

"You'll understand in a moment," they stopped walking, they were behind a pair of doors that led into one of the larger recreational rooms in the hospital, "before we enter Orihime-chan, I would just like to tell you something I probably should've told you a while ago. I am extremely proud of you, you have only been here for six months and yet you show such determination and dedication to your patients, and even if you cannot see it, I've seen a marked improvement in all your patients. Especially with Ichigo, ignore the events of today, that can only be expected from him on today of all days, but overall, he really has become a different person, and that is something even I could not accomplish when I worked with him. Keep your head high Orihime-chan, and do not let this one minor set back stop you from doing your job!"

"Unohana-sama…"

Unohana smiled at Orihime in a maternal kind of way, "now, shall we try and do some damage control?"

It looked like a bomb had hit it. That was the only way Orihime could describe the state of the room she had just walked in to. Chairs, tables, and even the couch were strewn across the room in various states of dismemberment. Several of the windows lining the room were smashed to pieces, and Orihime couldn't help but blanch at the sight of the bloodstains she could see on the floor.

"The _fuck _is she doing here?"

"Grimmjow…" Unohana said warningly to the blue haired man who was currently standing by the other end of the room, being restrained by several security guards.

"I said what the fuck is that bitch doing here?" he struggled against the security guards and tried to lash out at Orihime. The right side of his face was bruised and swollen, and blood was dripping from several open wounds.

_Did Ichigo do that to him?_

"Grimmjow!" Unohana snapped, her voice radiating all the assertiveness and authority Orihime wished she could mimic, "you are to stop harassing Doctor Inoue, and tell me what happened here? Why was I called down here to find you and Ichigo practically about to kill each other?"

_Where is Ichigo? _Orihime thought as she glanced around the room, there was nobody else in there aside from Grimmjow, the security guards, Unohana and herself.

"Ask _her_. It's her fucking fault anyway," he nodded violently towards Orihime, "fucking Strawberry got to damn protective over the bitch. None of his damn business anyway," he started grumbling to himself, every now and then yelling out a random profanity.

"Grimmjow! GRIMMJOW!" Unohana sighed before turning away and facing Orihime again, "I'm going to have to work on his some more to find out the cause of this fight, he can become difficult during times of distress, so it's best you leave this room. Also seeing that he has some sort of personal vendetta with you. I'm going to ask you to try and talk to Ichigo, from what I've heard, he refused to talk to anyone and stormed out of here as soon as security arrived. They would've stopped him, but they had their hands full with Grimmjow and Ulquiorra."

Orihime gulped at the prospect of seeing Ichigo, especially after the afternoon when she hadn't been his favourite person. But how could she explain that to Unohana? So she just nodded, turned on her heel and left the room.

_Ichigo…_

_

* * *

_

She closed her eyes and counted to ten before she could build up the courage to push open the door to his bedroom. She could hear him from the outside, moaning, muttering, cackling, and laughing to himself. She half contemplated going back to find Ikkaku or someone, but decided against it, they had enough trouble trying to deal with Grimmjow in his mood. Just as she was about to open the door, it was suddenly yanked open and she was pulled roughly into the room.

"I was wondering when you'd come in, Hime-chan,"

She shivered as she was pushed up against the wall by Ichigo, _no, not Ichigo_, she corrected herself as she looked into his eyes and saw the malice she had come to associate with his counter personality, that and the fact that he had referred to her as _Hime-chan_.

"Why so quiet, hm Hime?" he had both his arms slightly above her, effectively boxing her in. He took one arm and gently stroked her face, "hm, what's wrong? Are you…scared?" he laughed as he said the last word, and he began to squeeze her cheeks, "say something Hime!"

She took a few deep breaths before she spoke again, she needed to show him that she wasn't afraid of him, he couldn't just walk over her, she was the doctor, she was in control, "Ichigo-san," she began but was cut off when he suddenly applied just enough pressure on her cheeks to cause a bit of pain, it didn't help that he was squeezing the cheek where she had the stitches.

"Hime," he drawled in a bored sounding voice, "don't start this shit again. I already told you, I'm not your fucking _Ichigo-san_, I don't wanna hurt you, but don't piss me off, okay?"

She nodded dumbly as she realised that even pretending she wasn't scared would do her no good in this situation.

"Good," he sneered slightly, "now I promised _Ichigo-san _that I'd do something the next time I saw you,"

"Wha-"

She felt her blood run cold as she felt the hand that had been squeezing her cheek drop down to her hips and then snake under her t-shirt.

"I-I-Ichi-Ichigo!" she gasped as his hand met her stomach and started slowly creeping up her chest,

"Not fucking Ichigo!" he growled, pinching a bit of skin, "now why the fuck are you squirming like this?"

"Get _off_!" she moaned as she tried to remember any of the karate Tatsuki had taken the time to teach her, but in the position he had her in, she barely had room to move, "please, _please_. Don't do this," she begged looking desperately into his eyes, trying to search for any sign of Ichigo. He just snorted, before lifting his hand higher up her shirt,

"You sound like him, he's practically saying the same shit you're saying. Deal with it Hime, you'll have a lot more fun if you don't fight,"

His hand crept even further up her stomach so it just brushed the underneath of her bra, he leaned his face into her neck and grinned as he used his thumb to caress the small bit of skin that was visible there.

_No,_ she yelled at herself, _I'm not going to stand here and take this! I'm the doctor! _As his hand went higher and higher, she raised her knee and kneed him squarely in the groin. It had the desired affect, he immediately keeled over and cradled his crotch, she took that chance to wiggle out of his grasp and make a dash for the door.

"I'm sorry Ichigo-san," she mumbled as she fumbled across the room, she had done nothing to help him that day, all she'd seem to do was make everything worse, _maybe you'd be better off if I wasn't his doctor._

"No you don't!"

Orihime yelped as she ran into a solid object and was pushed backwards.

"That was mean, Hime," he growled as he practically picked her up and pushed her onto the bed, "now I'm not gonna be so nice to you."

Orihime couldn't even force herself to form coherent words, she was shocked that he'd managed to move that fast, she always thought that kicking a man _there _would incapacitate them. She was so shocked at his lightning quick movements that she didn't even notice she was crying until he mentioned it,

"you're always crying, Hime…do I scare you?" he sounded as if he hoped that he was scaring her as he pushed her onto the bed so she was lying on her back, then he climbed up on top of her so he was straddling her waist, he suddenly laughed aloud.

"King's really pissed. Really fucking pissed. He's going apeshit in there."

"Why are you doing this?" Orihime whispered through her tears, she couldn't understand how he had gone from the man she loved, to something so animalistic she barely even recognised him. He shrugged,

"Dunno, just feels right. Probably because King wants you, but he's too much of a pussy to act, so I gotta do it for him,"

"Excuse me…what did you-"

"It's your fault I'm here anyway," he continued, ignoring the fact that she had tried to interrupt, "if you hadn't of tried to get all close to Kingy back at the grave, he wouldn't have gotten all pissy, and I wouldn't have had to come and sort him out. _And _you got Grimmjow all pissed off yesterday, then Kingy felt he needed to sort Grimmjow out for doing that," he gently started touching her stitches, "to your pretty face. And Kingy can't deal with Grimmjow on his own, so I gotta help out. Get it? So really, you bring this shit on yourself,"

"No I d-"

"Shut up, Hime, it's not attractive when you complain so much!"

She opened her mouth to speak again, but he immediately silenced her by pressing his own lips upon hers. It was terrible. He was rough and dominating, immediately diving his tongue into her mouth without giving her any chance to react. His hands were roaming her body unhindered, she felt sick, she needed him to get off her, she needed to get out of there.

"This'll only be worse for you if you don't even pretend to enjoy it," he warned her between his rough kisses, "c'mon Hime, let me have my fun, pretend I'm _Ichigo-san_, if ya want, I don't fucking care, just show some more life!"

She shook her head and turned to the side, hoping to devoid him from attacking her lips again, no such luck. He just grabbed her cheeks and forced her lips open once again. She half wanted someone to barge into the room, just to stop him, but she didn't know if she could handle the embarrassment.

"Hime…" he moaned, grabbing hold of her bottom and squeezing tightly, "I said at least _pretend _you're enjoying this,"

"I can't! I can't!" she tried again to push him off of her, but he only pressed down further, sticking his tongue deeper down her throat, _Ichigo…please…please help me_, she whimpered as she heard the sound of a zipper being dragged downwards, _he's really going to do this…_

"Stop this! Please!"

"I said…pretend I'm Ichigo, you'll enjoy it then!"

"You're not! You're not Ichigo-san! I don't know who _you _are but you're not him!" she screamed as she pummelled his chest, trying to get him off of her. It did absolutely nothing, it was as if his chest was made out of solid rock, and he barely felt a thing. She allowed her tears to fall, not caring if it annoyed him, she didn't care about anything right now, all she wanted to do was get as far away from him as possible.

"_Fuuck!_" he groaned, collapsing on top of Orihime, causing the wind to be knocked out of her, "what the fuck is up with you?" he yelled. Orihime frowned, she hadn't done anything, had she? He started shaking and cursing, yelling profanities at no-one in particular. Orihime opened her mouth to ask him what on earth was going on, when he suddenly latched onto her again. Her eyes opened wide in surprise. It felt different this time. He wasn't forcing his way into her mouth. He wasn't biting her lips. He wasn't even moving. His lips were just pressed lightly on her own ones. _Ichigo…_she thought as she subconsciously began to move her lips against his.

* * *

**A/N: **Muhaha…yes I am ending this chapter here, what a nice cliff hanger. Sweet nibblets, how long is this chapter? WOW. Okay, review this lovely long chapter for me, it's the least you can do…right?


	14. Unspoken Words

**Summary:**Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital, a place for those deemed insane and beyond help. Can one determined healer prove them wrong and heal the one she loves?  
**Genre:**Romance/Hurt/Comfort/Angst [possible humor]  
**Warnings:**AU/Sex/Language/Mature Themes  
**Pairings:**Ichigo and Orihime

**AUTHORS NOTE:**Hello to anyone reading this, I don't really have much to say except that I hope you enjoy it, oh and thanks for reading this.

**A Schizophrenics Love**

**Chapter 14: **Unspoken Words

_She was crying. But that wasn't anything new, she was always crying. To credit her, she always did her best to hide her tears, whether that be by hiding in the park and sobbing her little heart out, or waiting until he had left for work before she let the tears roll down her cheeks. But he always knew…always. The second he walked through the door he would take one look at the fake smile plastered on her face before crouching down to her level and saying,_

"_Hime? Have you been crying again?"_

_She would adamantly deny this, but he would always stare sternly at her until she finally relented and began to cry again. The exact same thing was happening now. _

"_Ssh, sh, what's wrong this time, Hime?" Sora asked as he rubbed her back soothingly, ignoring the fact that she was soaking his shirt._

"_The…the…the boys at school were….were…mean to me!" she howled into her brother's shirt. Sora frowned, he hated to see Orihime upset and he never could quite understand why his kind hearted and lovable younger sister was the target for so many bullies. _

_It took about five minutes of back rubbing and gentle soothing before he had calmed Orihime down enough for her to explain exactly what had gotten her so riled up._

"_So, are you ready to tell me what these mean boys did to you?"_

_Orihime sat crossed legged on the rug opposite Sora, she was playing with a lock of her and her eyes were darting around the room as if she were afraid that somebody would overhear their conversation._

"_O…ok," she mumbled, before taking a deep breath and launching into her story, "well…it was at playtime and…and Sai-kun was playing in the sand pit next to me and…" she paused and a dark blush spread across her face, "…and I…I told him I thought he was cute!" And then…then he started to laugh, and he told all his friends and they started to laugh!" tears started rolling down her face at the memory, "he said I was offending him. He said…he said how can such an ugly girl like me? He said my hair was too weird and then he said nobody will ever love me because I'm too ugly and weird!" she sniffled loudly as she finished her story, waiting for Sora's reaction._

_Sora pondered for a moment, wondering where he should being._

"_Firstly," he said, "do you believe what he said is true?"_

"…_I don't know! My hair IS a weird colour, and it's not long and pretty like all the other girls, and everyone always looks at me funny when I talk about the aliens, or when I pull out my red bean paste sandwiches. So…so, I guess I am weird," she bowed her head dejectedly as she finished talking._

"_Inoue Orihime, I am extremely disappointed in you," Sora stood up and pointed an accusing finger at her, "have I not taught you to be proud of yourself? Your personality is one of your most redeeming qualities and I don't want to hear you getting upset because one person doesn't understand how truly amazing you really are. And I for one enjoy your red bean paste sandwiches a lot!"_

_There was a dull spark in her eye that told him he was doing his job and cheering her up, but the spark couldn't hide the cloud of doubt still hidden there._

"_But you're my brother Oni-chan, you're supposed to say these things…but was if Sai-kun is right? What if nobody will ever love me because they think I'm too weird? Then I'll have to live alone forever, and when the aliens come to abduct me nobody will be there to stop them, nobody will even notice I'm missing and-"_

_Sora pressed a finger to her lips when he realised she was becoming increasingly hysterical as she spoke her crazy tale._

"_I don't want to hear this anymore, do you hear my Orihime? You are far too young to be thinking about boys anyway! But," she smiled at her as he saw she had begun to pout, "when you do come of the age when it's time to think about boys like that…finding one who will love you, and who you in turn will love, will not be a hard task."_

"_How will I know when I've found that person? What if I never find him?"_

"_Love is a hard emotion to describe, but when you do fall in love, you'll fall hard, and you'll feel it…tugging at your heart stringers. That's your hearts way of demanding you be with that person," Sora shook his head sadly, "now enough of that talk, it depresses me to think of the time when you'll leave me to live with a strange man I'll probably dislike for taking you away from me. Oomph!"_

_Sora was suddenly knocked backwards by Orihime as she jumped on him, wrapping her small arms around his waist, _

"_Don't ever say that Oni-chan! I'll never leave you, never ever EVER!"_

_Sora laughed and smiled as he gently stroked her hair, wondering if the heart she had been blessed with was possibly too big for her to handle._

_

* * *

_

She tried to control her erratic breathing and thumping heart as she leant gently against his chest. She was surprised that that memory of Sora had chosen to show up in the forefront of her mind at that point, she hadn't thought of that day in many, many years. _How old was I then…seven or eight? I guess Sora-nii was right about love though…_her heart was beating extremely fast, it was almost painful. She could practically feel her heart pounding against her ribcage, demanding to be let free so it could be closer to Him. _Closer to Ichigo._ Her thoughts were betraying her now. This was wrong, she knew that, but even so, she couldn't help the feeling of pleasure she felt as she remembered the various sensations she felt whilst he was kissing her. He was gentle and almost slightly desperate as if he was imploring something of her, he was a complete opposite to cruel and vulgar creature he had been not ten minutes earlier. She mentally shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts that was already creating butterflies in her stomach, at the moment she had to try and regain control of herself and assess the compromising situation she was now in. They were lying across his bed, with her lying on his chest with one leg wrapped around one of his legs. He was aimlessly threading his fingers through her hair, and playing with the stray locks. She tried to remember how they had even ended up in that position, the last coherent thought she had was right before he bit her bottom lip, begging for entrance into her mouth…and after that everything was just hazy. A part of her was screaming at her to get up and get away before someone walked in and found them, but she found that it was only a small part, at that point in time she didn't care about getting caught and she wondered why that was.

"Inoue…?"

"Mhm?" she mumbled, trying not to laugh as she felt the vibrations in his chest as he spoke. There was a quick pause before, before she heard him sigh,

"I don't know…I don't understand…argh," he groaned and from the light thud she heard, she was sure he had slapped himself in the head in frustration, "what I'm trying to say is…what…I…" he paused again as if he was debating on what to say next, he sighed heavily once more before sitting up quickly and taking Orihime with him. She was sure she'd never get used to his quick reflexes, because before she barely even had the chance to blink and the next thing she knew she was sitting sideways across his lap.

"Ichi-"

"Inoue…" he pressed his thumb and forefinger on her chin and turned her face to face his own and stared straight into her eyes. Orihime blushed under his intense gaze and had to fight the urge to lower her eyes, there was something in his eyes that compelled her to keep staring at him. Nervously, she wet her lips as she waited for him to continue speaking, she didn't even notice the way his eyes followed her tongue as it quickly darted out a moisturized her lips.

"Inoue," he began again, "…you could lose your job," he blurted out quickly before averting his eyes from hers as if he was afraid of what they would show. Orihime's breath caught in her throat as she tried to process his words, "_you could lose your job_" Those were not the words she had expected him to say. She had expected him to say something that would crush her little heart, something along the lines of, "_I'm sorry Inoue…it didn't mean anything…accident…wasn't feeling right…it was Him…I'm telling Unohana-sama…" _

"…I know…" she managed to croak out, after staring at him in shock for longer than was necessary. A look of shock that mimicked Orihime's, fluttered across Ichigo's own face and he tightened his hold on her, pulling her body closer to his.

"So why are we doing this?" he mumbled against her neck, sending shivers down her spine.

**I think the correct question is, why aren't you two fucking yet? **

Ichigo swore aloud, and squeezed Orihime a little tighter, as if he were afraid that someone would come and take her away from him.

**Calm your ass King. I'm not gonna hurt her. She's ours now. **

Ichigo tensed and frowned at the words, "she's ours now", what did that even mean. The next thing Ichigo heard was a derisive snort,

**What does that even mean? Fucking hell Kingy, are you blind? Look at HER! Just look at her. Look at her eyes, can't you see that? Can't you see the **_**want **_**in her eyes? I don't think there's anything Hime won't do for you right now…which brings me back to my first question; why the hell aren't you fucking her senseless?**

For the first time, Ichigo found himself listening to the advice the voice had given him, not the last part of course, but he found himself drawn to her eyes.

_How have I never noticed this before_, he mumbled to himself as he stared into them seeing hundreds of things at once. Desire, lust, love, confusion, angst, desperation, fear, and that strange sense of timidness mixed with confidence that made Orihime who she was.

**Cause you're a fucking idiot, how many times do I have to say that?**

Ichigo noticed she was also staring at him intently, and he wondered what his eyes were giving away, he imagined it would be pretty similar to her own.

"Ichi…Ichigo…" she whispered quietly, still not breaking eye contact with him, "I-"

He had to kiss her again, he couldn't help it, and she didn't seem to mind either. The kiss was different this time, the first kiss had been uncertain and slow, whereas this one was full of a fiery passion as they both attempted to show the other their feelings that they had trouble putting into words. Orihime felt like she was on fire. She had never experienced this level of passion ever before in her life, it was foreign, it was electrifying, it made her feel like she depended on his touch to survive. She needed him.

Just as she felt she was starting to get used to his touch, his caress, the feel of his lips against her own, she was roughly thrown backwards. It was strange, but as soon as she left his arms she felt cold.

"What wa-" she began, staring at Ichigo who was still sitting on the bed with narrowed eyes. Before she could finish her sentence, and ask him what was wrong, her answer was given to her by the sound of feet slapping on cold floor and the door was shoved open, revealing an out of breath Ikkaku and a few other security members.

_Ichigo must have heard them running down the corridor_, she realised, now feeling slightly embarrassed that she had been so enthralled and enraptured with him, she had completely forgotten when she was and had shut out the outside world.

"You okay Inoue?" Ikkaku asked as he stepped into the room giving Ichigo a suspicious look, "sorry it took so long to get down here, Grimmjow was being a bastard."

Orihime could only nod dumbly.

"You sure you're okay?" Ikkaku was now looking at her sceptically. She noticed that the other few guards who had entered the room were either staring at her pointedly, or determinedly staring away from her.

"She's fine," Ichigo's voice sounded dark and hollow as it rang out across the room, and the expression on his face didn't look any better. Orihime had to bite her bottom lip to stop herself from giggling, he did not look pleased that they had been interrupted.

"Of course I'm fine, Ikkaku-san, why wouldn't I be?" Orihime finally found her voice and managed to smile brightly at them, "I was just talking to Ichigo-san about today, and I was about to say goodbye. Really, there's no need to worry so much!"

"I see…" Ikkaku said, with the same look on his face, "well, Unohana-sama want's to speak to you quickly so…"

"Right," Orihime turned to Ichigo wondering what she should do in the situation, "well…uh…see you tomorrow Ichigo-san," she said awkwardly, only too aware of how uncertain she sounded right then.

"Tomorrow," he nodded at her, his tone of voice not revealing anything, but the look in his eyes made Orihime want to blush. She lowered her head before hurrying out of the door before she did something she would regret.

Ikkaku paused after Orihime left the room and stared at Ichigo for a while.

"What?" Ichigo asked, feeling irked that the man who had interrupted some of the best time he'd had in a while was still standing there staring at him.

"You did quite a number on Grimmjow, you know?"

Ichigo grunted in response, he didn't actually remember most of his fight with Grimmjow, but he was glad to know damage had been done, "the bastard deserved it."

Ikkaku chuckled darkly, "I'm not saying he didn't…but," he paused and looked over his shoulder, as if to make sure nobody was there, "you should be more careful Ichigo."

Before Ichigo had a chance to ask the balding man what the hell he was talking about, his bedroom door was closed and he was plunged into darkness.

**You shoulda told Hime her blouse was undone.**

Ichigo frowned, _I would've…but there were too many people in the room. I doubt any of them noticed anyway._

Ichigo heard a low chuckle,

**Oh they **_**all **_**noticed. I ain't complaining though, I liked the view.**

For the second time that night, Ichigo found himself agreeing with the Hollow voice.

* * *

**A/N: **I really am very sorry I haven't updated in ages. My school work wasn't that great, so I had to take a break to get that back up to scratch. Sorry about that. Thank you everyone who reviewed, and please keep on doing that, I love getting feedback. Bye.


	15. Scared

**Summary: **Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital, a place for those deemed insane and beyond help. Can one determined healer prove them wrong and heal the one she loves?  
**Genre: **Romance/Hurt/Comfort/Angst [possible humor]  
**Warnings: **AU/Sex/Language/Mature Themes  
**Pairings: **Ichigo and Orihime

**AUTHORS NOTE: **Hello to anyone reading this, I don't really have much to say except that I hope you enjoy it, oh and thanks for reading this.

**A Schizophrenics Love**

**Chapter 15: **Scared

She was huddled up in a corner of her room, her legs pushed up to her chest and her arms wrapping around her skinny frame tightly. Orihime pursed her lips and brows together as she entered Nel's room to find the young woman in this position.

"Nel-chan? Are you alright Nel-chan?" she asked softy as she stepped further into the room, letting the door close gently behind her. She took a few tentative steps forward and then stopped a metre or so from Nel, just in case she got violent, "Nel-chan, what's wrong? Did something happen?" Orihime was beginning to worry now, she hadn't expected anything to be wrong with Nel when she returned to work the next day. She knew she'd have a lot to talk about with Ulquiorra, and Ichigo…she had a hell of a lot to talk about with him, but she was relying on Nel to give her a sense of normalcy for the day, apparently that wasn't going to happen.

"Nel-chan…tell me what's wrong, please!" Orihime said softly as she inched closer and closer to her, "did somebody hurt you? "

"Nah-uh," Nel mumbled still pressing her head against her knees, although it wasn't the most helpful of answers, Orihime was glad that she was showing some sort of life.

"Well, do you feel sick?"

"Nah-uh".

"Then what is it Nel-chan? You know I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong. I'm not a mind reader, remember?"

There was a silence in the room for a few long moments before Nel sniffed a bit and lifted her head up to stare at Orihime, revealing blood shot eyes and tear stained cheeks,

"I'm _scared _Ori-himay", she whispered getting up on her knees and shuffling closer to Orihime, "it was so, so, so scary and they wouldn't stop, no matter how much Nel told them to and then…and then," she moaned loudly and clutched at her head, "it's scary…" she mumbled like a sort of mantra.

"What was scary Nel-chan? Who was scaring you?"

Nel lifted her head up, ignoring Orihime's question, "Nel was in bed and Nel heard Ichi yelling so I-" she narrowed her eyes slightly and beckoned Orihime closer with her index finger, "you have to promise not to tell anyone! Promise!"

"…I promise Nel-chan…"

Nel nodded to herself and then continued, "Ichi was yelling so…so Nel got out of bed, Ichi's my bestest friend and he was in trouble, _Nel had to go_, it's not Nel's fault, Nel is a good girl!" she was getting slightly hysterical now and Orihime began gently rubbing her back,

"I know it's not your fault and you are a very good girl Nel-chan. Now, do you want to tell me what go you so scared?"

"Yes…Nel went looking for Ichi and he was in one of the rooms and I was gonna ask him what was wrong, but he was with _Grimmjow_…I don't like him, he's…he's mean to Nel," her bottom lip began to quaver and Orihime felt a flash of anger surge through her body, she was getting fed up of Grimmjow abusing her patients and made a mental note to talk to Unohana about it when she got the chance, "so Nel hided behind the door and then Grimmjow punched Ichi!" she scowled into the air and began balling her hands into tiny fists, "Grimmjow bullies Nel but Nel doesn't want Grimmjow to bully Ichi, so…so Nel tried to get into the room but then Ichi punched Grimmjow and they kept punching and punching and punching and punching and Nel didn't think it was going to stop. Then Grimmjow punched Ichi and Ichi fell and he didn't get up! Nel thought he was dead!"

Orihime hadn't even noticed that she was holding her breath as Nel recounted her story of what had happened last night. She hadn't had a chance to ask Ichigo so this was her first time hearing it.

"But then Ichi got up…'cept…it wasn't Ichi…" she closed her eyes and shuddered a little bit, and Orihime knew all to well who Nel had seen during the fight and it didn't surprise her that she was scared.

"Nel told them to stop! Nel did! But they didn't and there was blood…Nel doesn't like blood…Nel tried to pull Ichi away and…and…and," she began hiccupping and tears were rolling freely down her face, "and then Ichi hit punched Nel!" she wailed, collapsing against Orihime who in turn wrapped her arms around her and hugged her tightly.

"I'm sorry you had to see that Nel-chan", she mumbled into her green hair, "I'm very sorry".

It took a while to get Nel calmed down again enough to finish her story.

"Nel ran away after Ichi punched her…Nel was scared…Ichi was scaring me…"

"And you haven't told anybody else?"

Nel shook her head, "I didn't want to get Ichi in trouble…Nel loves Ichi even when he's mean to me!"

Orihime managed a small smile for her, despite her mental health problems, Orihime could honestly say Nel was one of her favourite people she had met, she had an incredible power of love and forgiveness and Orihime admired that part of her.

"Nel just want's to know if Ichi is alright!"

"He's fine Nel-chan…I spoke to him last night, and I'm sure he's very sorry for what he did to you. He cares a lot about you, you know that right? Now," she stood up, and extended a hand allowing her to pull Nel up with her, "it sounds like you had a very busy night and you were a very brave girl, but your brothers will be here soon and I'm sure they don't want to see you with tears in your eyes".

* * *

"Can you tell Ichi Nel said 'hi'?" Nel asked as Orihime hugged her goodbye, "and tell him…tell him Nel said she's glad he's okay!"

Orihime hugged her tightly once more, promised she would indeed tell Ichigo these things and then said goodbye to Nel and her two brothers who had come to visit her. Truth be told, Orihime was extremely nervous about seeing Ichigo later on. After what had transpired between the two the previous night, Orihime wasn't even sure how to act around him any more. Was she right to assume they were conducting some sort of illicit relationship with one another, or was she totally jumping the gun? Either way, Orihime knew her session with Ichigo was going to be an interesting one to say the least. She shook her head as she walked down the corridor to her new destination, right now Ichigo was not what she should be thinking about.

"Ulquiorra-san…" she muttered as she stood outside his bedroom door, trying to prepare herself for what she was about to get involved in. She still couldn't fully process that he had actually attempted suicide the previous night, a mix of emotions flowed through her body as she thought of it. Fear, that he could've actually died. Sadness, that he felt so depressed or lonely to think that suicide was his only option. Anger with him for thinking that suicide was his only option, and anger with herself for not being there for her patient when he was obviously crying out for help. Taking a deep breath, Orihime pushed his door open and quietly slid inside.

"Oh Ulquiorra-san!" she gasped in horror as she stared at him. She felt lucky that he was still asleep as she was sure he wouldn't appreciate having her stare at him so openly for such a long time. He looked much skinnier than she remembered, his cheek bones were sunken, the little colour he used to have in his cheeks were gone and if it had not been for the steady heart rate monitor to his right, she would have assumed that he had indeed succeeded in his suicide attempt. Slowly, she began taking steps towards his bed, noting the way even the railings had been covered in thick layers of padding in an attempt to stop him from causing himself further harm.

"I…I don't know what to say", she admitted when she finally reached his bed and took his cold hand in her warmer one, "I don't think you like me Ulquiorra-san and I…I haven't been a very good doctor to you, have I? This is my fault, if…" she was shocked to find tears rolling down her cheeks, "…if I'd have paid more attention to you, you wouldn't have done this. If I-"

"Do…not…flatter…yourself…woman…" a quiet and wheezing voice rang out and Orihime immediately dropped his hand a jumped backwards.

"Ulquiorra-san! I thought you were asleep", she stammered as his cold eyes zeroed in on her and stared at her unblinkingly, she quickly began wiping her tears away, for some reason not feeling entirely comfortable with him knowing she had been crying over him.

"Your…heart…it makes…you…weak. It's…what makes…all humans….weak…"

"Ulquiorra-san, please don't speak, you're not well enough yet to strain yourself in such a manner!"

"You care for those…who don't care for you…where…where is the…logic in that?" he continued, acting as if he hadn't her heard warning, "….eventually…those you care for will leave…and those people won't think…twice about you…" he coughed lightly once before his eyes rolled backwards slightly and he fell asleep, leaving Orihime in silence. Although it was cryptic and wasn't much, she had to smile slightly….he was opening up to her.

"Someone hurt you, didn't they Ulquiorra-san?" she asked aloud as she settled into the armchair in the room, intent on staying with him until their session was over.

* * *

She spent longer than necessary with Ulquiorra. Much longer, and she wondered if Ichigo would be annoyed by this. It couldn't be helped though, sitting in that room with Ulquiorra had helped to calm her nerves and she was feeling much better about meeting Ichigo now.

"Who am I kidding?" she berated herself as she slid into one of the sticky plastic seats in the canteen during her break before she met with Ichigo. She was _scared_.

* * *

**A/N: **Hi...okay I haven't updated for 2 months because I had these exams in January and they were really important so I told myself no fanfiction until my exams were over, so I am truly sorry about the wait but meh it couldn't be helped really.

Thank you all so much for continuing to review and everything, that was really nice coming on here after 2 months and finding so many reviews and alerts etc. I think I'll get back to updating much quicker now because I don't have any exams.


	16. The Reason

**Summary: **Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital, a place for those deemed insane and beyond help. Can one determined healer prove them wrong and heal the one she loves?  
**Genre: **Romance/Hurt/Comfort/Angst [possible humor]  
**Warnings: **AU/Sex/Language/Mature Themes  
**Pairings: **Ichigo and Orihime

**AUTHORS NOTE: **Hello to anyone reading this, I don't really have much to say except that I hope you enjoy it, oh and thanks for reading this.

**A Schizophrenics Love**

**Chapter 15: **The Reason

_He had to kiss her again, he couldn't help it, and she didn't seem to mind either. This was different this time, the first kiss had been uncertain and slow, whereas this one was full of a fiery passion as they both attempted to show the other their feelings that they had trouble putting into words. Orihime felt like she was on fire. She had never experienced this level of passion ever before in her life, it was foreign, it was electrifying, it made her feel like she depended on his touch to survive. She needed him._

Orihime froze, one had resting on the door handle into his room. She'd been quite proud of the fact that she had skilfully managed to erase all thoughts of what had occurred last night from her mind for most of the day, but as she had drawn closer and closer towards his room her heart had developed an erratic and unsteady rhythm and her breath became laboured.

"Come on Orihime, you can do this!" she mumbled to herself in an attempt to push the door open, unfortunately her arms didn't seem to be listening to her and she stayed perfectly still, "mou~ I don't even know what to say!" she grumbled, pushing herself away from the door and sliding down against the opposite wall. It was true, despite her age she had never had much interaction from the opposite gender. Oh sure, they all _tried _to get her attention but due to a mixture of Tatsuki's fierce over-protectiveness and her own oblivious outlook in these sort of things, they always left empty handed. She'd had crushes on some of the men in her classes at university, but what she felt for them was nothing compared to her feelings about Ichigo. She wasn't sure how to read him either, due to her lack of experience in this department she was unsure whether his feelings were reciprocal.

"Well he _did _kiss me first…" she said thoughtfully, one slender finger propped up against her chin as she tried to figure out his feelings about her, "but that could've just been because of the position we were forced into. Or…" she paused for a moment and contemplated her next thought and a large blush stained her cheeks, "it could've just been all that pent up _sexual tension_. I mean he hasn't even had a chance to have an intimate relationship with anyone and I was just the first person available to him!" she whimpered slightly before dropping her head into her lap and squeezing her eyes shut, she was giving herself a headache.

"Are you done?"

Orihime all but shrieked as she jumped to attention and found Ichigo leaning against his door with an odd expression on his face, it looked like he was trying his hardest not to smile.

"I-Ichigo-san!" she yelped, "um ah when did you get there?" she asked, trying her hardest to ignore the way his t-shirt fit him just a bit _too _nicely, giving her a nice view of the muscles along his arm and abdomen.

"Sometime before you started mumbling about my alleged sexual tension…"

"Oh…" right now she didn't feel like the accomplished doctor she was supposed to be, she felt like a silly school girl who had been caught ogling her crush in private and she wanted nothing more than the floor to develop a black hole and swallow her up.

Ichigo allowed himself a small smirk as he watched her eyes widen and her cheeks turn a bright red at his words, it was obvious that she was extremely nervous about her session with him today, and who could blame her? Hell, he was even a bit nervous, not that he would admit that to anyone but himself.

"So, are you going to stand out there all day, or are you going to do your job…_Doctor_", he smirked lightly as she pouted slightly at him and narrowed her eyes before marching into his room, it was rather fun teasing her. As she stepped into the room, he followed her lead and closed to door tightly behind him.

There was an awkward silence as the door clicked shut and the two turned to face each other. Now they were in a room together, neither knew what to say to the other.

"I…uh…I wanted to talk about what happened last night", Orihime mumbled finally after the silence had stretched on for far too long, "I just wanted to apolog-" her eyes opened wide as she suddenly felt something tightly wrap around her small frame and pull her close. In a few seconds, she realised Ichigo had closed to distance between them and had pulled her into his chest in an awkward type of hug, "I-Ichigo-san!" she yelped, not used to the sudden closeness.

"Why do you always need to apologise?" he growled suddenly, releasing his grasp on her and leaning backwards slightly so he could see her face properly, "you make me think I'm doing something wrong every time you try and say sorry…"

Orihime tore her eyes away from his, suddenly feeling very guilty, "it's not that, Ichigo-san, it's just…well…" she blushed a little and began fidgeting with the wrist of her jacket, "I feel like I'm taking advantage of you!"

He had to fight the strong urge to start laughing at her thought that she was "taking advantage of him", once he saw that she was utterly serious with what she was saying. He wasn't sure how she had come up with that idea, if anyone had walked in on them last night he was sure he would be blamed for taking advantage of _her_.

**Yeah, you're the crazy ass schizoid and she's just a weak little woman. I don't know why you haven't taken advantage of that yet you pussy**

Expertly ignoring the snide comment, Ichigo turned his attention back to Orihime, who was staring at him in confusion as to why he had not said anything in response to her.

"You? Take advantage of me? I don't see how that works," he admitted aloud.

"Ah because I'm your _doctor _Ichigo-san, this is a complete breach of protocol and we shouldn't be doing this, but…" her tongue darted out and moistened her lips subconsciously as she lifted her head up and looked into his eyes, "but…_I want to_," she breathed quietly.

Ichigo froze for a moment as they locked eyes, trying to allow the idea that she was doing this because she really wanted to be with him seep into his thoughts. It gave him a strange sort of elation to know that she wasn't just going along with him because she was scared of what he could become, or because she felt guilty about his condition. _She actually liked him_.

**No shit King. Why the hell are you standing around **_**staring **_**at her, hurry up and get to the fucking!**

A low growl escaped his lips and he felt his temper begin to rise before it rapidly decreased with a simple touch. Looking down he realised that Orihime had placed a hand over him arm and was squeezing it lightly, much like the way she had done on that disastrous evening with her friends in the restaurant.

"You should learn how to ignore him better," she said quietly, her hand still resting on his arm. Ichigo narrowed his eyes slightly,

"It's not that easy," he muttered curtly, he disliked when people thought they could come up with an easy solution to his problems. Did they not understand that if it was as easy as annoying the sinister voice in his head, he would have done so long ago? Orihime began to nibble on her lower lip, sensing that she had irked him,

"I mean, maybe you found it difficult before because you didn't have a reason to ignore him," she blushed at how forward she was sounding right now, but she decided she didn't care, it had to be said, "I want to help you get better, not just as your doctor, but…but…but as something more! _I _want to be your reason." she bowed her head quickly after she had finished speaking, as if she was scared she had gone too far and would anger him even more.

**Well damn, bitch really knows what to say, huh?**

Ichigo nodded, ignoring the foul language, "Inoue," he started before resuming their previous position and wrapping his arms around her tightly. He had realised that she was right, after his mother had died he had lived for years not seeing the point without his mother by his side. It was like the sun had suddenly disappeared and he was submerged into darkness. He hadn't even realised it until he had met her and rays of light had begun to shine through the darkness.

"Be my reason, Inoue…" he mumbled into her hair, squeezing her tightly.

**Fucking pussy.**

**

* * *

**

Orihime wasn't sure whether it was a good thing or not that the dynamics of their relationship hadn't really changed, even though they had mutually agreed to take the relationship to another level. They hadn't kissed again, and really, the only noticeable difference to anyone walking in on them would be the fact that Ichigo had laced his fingers within her own as they sat on his bed. They had spoken as they normally would, if she had been having a session with him, after all she was still his doctor, despite her personal status with him.

She thought that perhaps he would kiss her goodbye when she finally decided it was time to leave, but he had hesitated and had instead just squeezed her fingers tightly before murmuring,

"get home safe".

She had to shake away the feeling of disappointment at the lack of a kiss, telling herself that she was not in a normal relationship. Ichigo had never been this intimate with anybody before and she would take things at his pace, however slow he needed to go. She would not rush him. Though she couldn't deny the yearning she felt to have his lips upon hers once more.

* * *

**A/N: **Hi, okay, I can back to my old schedule of updating once a week again, yay! Maybe even twice teehee. I would say that the action will be starting in one or two chapters and that means _juiiiiccccyyy _bits, so yup, just so you've got a fair warning of that ^_^


	17. Scar

**Summary: **Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital, a place for those deemed insane and beyond help. Can one determined healer prove them wrong and heal the one she loves?  
**Genre: **Romance/Hurt/Comfort/Angst [possible humor]  
**Warnings: **AU/Sex/Language/Mature Themes  
**Pairings: **Ichigo and Orihime

**AUTHORS NOTE: **Hello to anyone reading this, I don't really have much to say except that I hope you enjoy it, oh and thanks for reading this.

**A Schizophrenics Love**

**Chapter 17: **Scar

"_What are you laughing at?"_

_Orihime tried to stifle her girlish giggles as she stared up at Ichigo's frowning face. Their session had once again ended in a secret rendezvous for the forbidden lovers and they had ended up on the bed. They hadn't done anything, of course. Neither of them were ready for that. Instead they were more then content in lying in each other's arms and simply talking. _

"_Oi, I said why are you laughing?" he asked again, prodding his finger into her side gently, with inevitably resulted in a bout of giggles from her again._

"_Oh it's nothing, it's just that you look funny from down here," she smiled up at him from her position on his chest. Ichigo rose an eyebrow but said nothing, quite used to her random outbursts by now. They were silent for a few more minutes, perfectly comfortable in just basking in the others company, before Ichigo sat up abruptly, taking Orihime with him so she was sitting in his lap awkwardly._

"_Ichigo-san?" she said worriedly, as she felt his chest tense up underneath his shirt and noticed that his fists were beginning to ball up._

"_It's nothing, I'm fine," he muttered into her hair, "it's just easier to ignore him when you're closer to me"._

"_Ah," she said for lack of anything better to say and she too buried her face into his neck partly to avoid him seeing the horrid blush that was dominating her cheeks at his words. It made her feel unbelievably happy and proud to know that she was some source of medication for him. She made him feel better._

_._

_._

_._

_It took him two months after their first kiss to pluck up the courage to kiss her again. She was beginning to think that he would never do it and was planning on maybe initiating the kiss herself, it turned out she didn't need to worry. She had had a particularly difficult day, Nel had been fine but Ulquiorra had been a mess. He had had another relapse, not as serious as when he had slit his wrists months prior, but serious enough to make her cry. During one of their sessions she had opened one of his drawers, looking for some tissue, but instead found it almost half full of pills he should have been taking every day._

"_He was pl-planning to take them all at once!" she sobbed into Ichigo's chest, her body racking violently with the tears she hadn't shed in front of Ulquiorra, "I'm failing him and I don't know what to do!"_

_Ichigo hadn't known what to say, comforting people had never been one of his strong points, but when she had burst into his room with a fountain of tears falling rapidly he knew he had to do something. She had run in, and immediately wrapped her arms around his chest for support as she sobbed out exactly what had happened._

"_You're not failing him you're doing your best, right?"_

"_I don't know! If I were doing my best, should he be on the road to recovery? Like Nel-chan, or you? He's only getting worse, and he won't even speak to me anymore. How do I deal with a patient who hates me?"_

_Ichigo furrowed his brow as he tried to remember everything he knew about Ulquiorra, he wasn't a patient Ichigo had come into contact with very often, "he doesn't hate you. How could anyone hate you? That's just the way he is…"_

"_What, so I'm supposed to let him kill himself because '_that's just the way he is'_?" she quoted him bitterly. Ichigo couldn't help but grin lightly, despite the situation, it wasn't often that Orihime lost her temper even a little bit._

"_Maybe I should ask Unohana-sama if I could be relieved of his care, I'm obviously doing him more harm than good-"_

"_Shut up," Ichigo growled pulling away from her so he could see her tear stricken face, "I don't see why you've got such low confidence about yourself?"_

"_He tried to kill himself! I'm his doctor, I'm supposed to be stopping things like that!"_

"_He tried to kill himself a hell of a lot more times than when you weren't his doctor! You can't expect change to happen so quickly, Inoue. You're trying your best, and if he's still trying to kill himself even then, then what else can you do?"_

"_My best obviously isn't good enough!" Orihime huffed angrily in frustration, how did he not understand what she was saying, "and I'm not going go and give up on him just because he's a challenge!"_

_They stood in silence for a few seconds, with Orihime uncharacteristically glaring and Ichigo who was grinning smugly. It took another few seconds before her eyes softened and her mouth dropping into a comical "O" shape,_

"_Oh"_

_Ichigo couldn't help laughing at her accusing stare._

"_You used reverse psychology on me!"_

"_Yeah…you used to do it to me to make me see sense, so I figured it would work on you"._

"_Thank you, I…I needed that"._

_He was pretty sure his body was moving of it's volition, but he had taken a step closer to her, closing the small gap and pushed her chin up gently with his hand._

"_Inoue, you're doing a great job", he whispered before tilting his own head a planting his lips firmly upon her own. For a moment she stiffened, and he had been about to pull back, worrying that he had done the wrong thing. But just as quickly, he felt her body relax and two thin arms wrapped around his neck. With a smile, he decided he could get used to this and wondered why he had been so afraid to do it again._

_._

_._

_._

"_Oi!"_

"_Hush, this is your own fault. What on Earth are you doing getting into a fight with Zaraki-san?"_

_Ichigo grinned sheepishly as Orihime gently applied some antiseptic ointment on a largish wound he had sustained during his fight with the head of security._

"_Hey!"_

_Orihime prodded his wound lightly in frustration that he had not answered her question. She had been having her regular session with Nel when Ikkaku had burst into the room raving that Ichigo was fighting and nobody could get him to stop. She had immediately ran out of the room, fearing that he had lost total control and was on a rampage. Instead, she had ran outside to where the fight was happening to find Ichigo and Head of Security Zaraki Kenpachi sprawled out on the grass, breathless and with several cuts and bruises over their worn out bodies. Orihime was normally a very calm person, but seeing them lying there _laughing_, she had snapped a little bit and she wore an uncharacteristic scowl as she dragged Ichigo towards one of the various medical rooms to heal his wounds before they got infected._

"_There!" she sighed loudly, after putting the final bandage on the wound, she scowled at him for a second before turning around with audible "humph" and began putting away the equipment she had used. Ichigo sat in silence on the cool metal table, watching her busy herself pointedly not talking or looking at him._

"_I have to get back to Nel now" she said briskly, turning around then moving to leave the small room. However, she was hindered by a large hand latching onto her arm and dragging her backwards._

"_Ichigo-san.."_

"_Inoue…"_

_Both stared at each other angrily for a while before Orihime's eyes finally softened and she looked downwards,_

"_You made me worry about you. Ikkaku-san said they couldn't get you to stop fighting and I feared the worst. And…and then I get there and you were just lying on the grass laughing…"_

_A wave of guilt hit him at her words. It hadn't seemed like a big deal to him at the time, he and Zaraki were always getting into fights and it _was _notoriously hard to get Zaraki to stop fighting once he got going, but he hadn't expected her to worry about him. He opened his legs slightly and pulled her closer to him so she was standing between both legs. Despite her mild anger, she wrapped her arms around his midsection and pressed her head against his chest._

"_Sorry for making you worry," he murmured sincerely, "so, can you stop ignoring me now?"_

_Orihime snorted in his arms and pushed away, trying to stop the grin from appearing on her lips, "do you really think you're going to get off that easily? I was worried _sick_, I even left Nel-chan alone, which thinking about it probably wasn't a good idea so I should get back and - mmph!" she was silence quickly by a rough kiss - not that she was complaining. _

"_Am I forgiven now?" he asked cheekily, his forehead pressed up against her own, the perfect position to see her flushed face from their sudden kissing session. She paused for a moment, trying to catch her breath before she replied,_

"_Um…maybe?"_

_He didn't miss the flirty tone in her voice and a feral smirk appeared on his face as he bent lower intent on capturing her lips once more. Three sharp knocks on the door stopped him however and they immediately jumped apart._

"_Inoue-san? Nel-chan is looking for you?" a voice called through the door, "and Unohana-sama would like to speak to Ichigo". _

_._

_._

_._

_She didn't know what to call their relationship. They had never given it any labels, she didn't know if she would officially call herself his girlfriend, or if he would be comfortable with him calling himself her boyfriend, but she decided it didn't matter. Whatever they had was surely worth a hell of a lot more than the labels society wanted to give them._

_._

_._

_._

"_Orihime, good God, I know it's cold but we have a perfectly working central heating in our home, you know? You don't have to walk around with that scarf around your neck all the time"._

"_Ah but Tatsuki-chan, that is when the blue men are most likely to strike! They make us get out guards down and WHAM, they attack when you think you're safest!"_

"_Whatever you say, Hime…whatever you say…" Tatsuki mumbled, rolling her eyes and plopping back onto the couch, she was far too used to Orihime's eccentric ways to even be slightly worried by her statements of the little blue men._

_Orihime simply heaved a silent sigh of relief and made sure that her scarf was wrapped securely around her neck. She was not remotely worried about the little blue men anymore, for she was certain that they had left Earth and had gone back to their home plant. No, she was more worried about what Tatsuki would say if she saw the large love bite she was trying to hide from her on her neck…_

_._

_._

_._

_

* * *

_

"Good morning Ulquiorra-san," Orihime said brightly as she stepped into his room, closing the door tightly behind her, "and how are you today?"

She got no answer, but was not really expecting one. Unfazed, she bounded into her usual seat by his bed and took out a book from her bag, "my friends boyfriend is an avid reader as well, so I've borrowed this from him because I think you'll like it," she handed him a thin book with the title in large white letters on the plain cover:

_**HEART OF DARKNESS**_

"…it's supposed to be a great book, you know?"

Ulquiorra stared at her, and then at the book and then back to her for a few moments, "I fear that this will not interest me," he rasped, shoving the book back in her face, "take it back".

Orihime blinked for a few seconds, she hadn't expected him to say anything and was a bit lost, but she quickly recovered and plastered her smile back on her face,

"What do you mean Ulquiorra-san? I've heard it is a great book, I'm sure you'll enjoy it".

"Doubtful"

"Uryu-kun told me that it's about a mans journey into Africa and the horrors he witnesses there. He goes into the jungle, the Heart of Africa, and all he see's is darkness, humanity has been lost, and there is nothing but pain and torment in that place anymore," she paused for a moment wondering if what she was planning to say would be crossing the line. Then she shrugged, it was rare that Ulquiorra spoke and she would not miss an opportunity like this, "Ulquiorra-san, I know you don't like talking, but I truly worry about you. Well…I worry about your heart. I don't think it is well".

Ulquiorra made a strange snorting sound before shooting her a contemptuous look.

"Humans and your silly notions of hearts and love, it makes me sick, we would be better off without such trivialities".

"You're a human as well, Ulquiorra-san…"

"Unfortunately", he replied curtly.

Orihime bit her lip before replying, "Love isn't a silly notion, without wanting to sound too cliché, love is a wonderful thing that helps us live. If we didn't have love, I would hate to imagine that state of the world".

Ulquiorra said nothing, instead he threw the blankets off his chest and began to slowly unbutton his shirt.

"Ah…Ulquiorra-san, what…what are you…oh my…" she trailed off and stared in wonder at his paled chest, "oh…Ulquiorra-san…what happened to you?" she gasped as her eyes travelled along his chest and landed on the raised patch of skin just below his heart. It was large, about as big as her palm and looked as if it was a burn mark of some sorts. She racked her mind as she tried to remember where this injury had came from, but could not remember a thing, she was sure it had definitely not been in his files.

"Love brings only misery and pain, there is no exception to that", he said simply before tugging his shirt down and resuming his usual silent exterior.

She was sure he could not realise by how much she had taken his words in by.

"_Love brings only misery and pain, there is no exception to that", _she had immediately thought about her illicit relationship with Ichigo and for the first time, she began to wonder if she was only setting herself up for a terrible heartbreak.

* * *

**Breaking News Report!**

_The fugitive Sosuke Aizen has been found and captured, much to the relief of the citizens of Karakura. Police received an anonymous tip off that Aizen and several accomplices would attempt to intercept Mayor Yamamoto's car tomorrow morning on his journey to the embassy and would then proceed to hold the Mayor ransom. Thankfully he was stopped and caught. Two unnamed accomplices managed to flee the scene and the police are still looking for them. Chief of Police, Hisagi Shuuhei had this to say:_

"_We are extremely glad that Aizen has been captured and rest assured, he will be put on trial and hopefully convicted within the month. I know I do not stand alone in my happiness that this criminal is now off the streets, and I'm sure we'll all sleep a lot easier now"._

"Chief Hisagi, what sort of sentence do you expect Aizen will receive?"

"_We're hoping he'll get an extremely severe one, life imprisonment or - depending on his lawyer - perhaps the death sentence. That may sound harsh, but remember this is the mad man who terrorized our streets for over a decade. Off the record…I say he deserves it."_

Orihime switched the TV off and dove under her covers, a small shiver running down her spine. She remembered clearly that news report she had heard all those months ago in which Aizen had been blamed for the murder of Ichigo's mother. She had forgotten to ask him about it back then, and wondered if she should now. She shook the silly notion out of her head, _he's getting locked up now, there's no use in getting Ichigo all riled up about something that he would never have known anyway_. And with that thought, she fell into a quick sleep, not knowing that this would effect her in ways she could never have imagined.

* * *

**A/N: **Hello, the bits in italic at the beginning are mini little flashbacks just in case you didn't get that. I just wanted to show that their relationship has progressed by a _lot_, but I didn't want to write mundane chapters about it all. Timeline wise, I'm saying their relationship has been "official" for about 5 months okay? Anyway, thank you for all the positive reviews and I'm glad you're all still interested in this ^_^


	18. Aizen

**Summary: **Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital, a place for those deemed insane and beyond help. Can one determined healer prove them wrong and heal the one she loves?  
**Genre: **Romance/Hurt/Comfort/Angst [possible humor]  
**Warnings: **AU/Sex/Language/Mature Themes  
**Pairings: **Ichigo and Orihime

**AUTHORS NOTE: **Hello to anyone reading this, I don't really have much to say except that I hope you enjoy it, oh and thanks for reading this.

**A Schizophrenics Love**

**Chapter 18: **Aizen

Rin Kyoko was good at what he did. No, scratch that, he was excellent at what he did. He was a lawyer. Not just any lawyer, no that would be too easy for Rin. Rin specialised in getting criminals off the hook. He was notorious for getting criminals out of jail, even if the evidence against them was indisputable. Never had he lost a case. He was the man everyone wanted to represent them if they were in court, but of course he had a high price. People paid incredibly pricesfor his services, much more than any other lawyer, which ensured that Rin and his family lived in the life of luxury. Because of his 100% success rate, inevitably Rin was an extremely cocky man. Losing was just not an option for him and the very idea of losing never entered his mind. That was, until he got his newest case. Oh, he had an inkling that people would be coming after him to represent this new client, but he had naively hoped they wouldn't. Sosuke Aizen was guilty without a doubt. But even that wasn't a problem for Rin, he had saved prisoners who were just as guilty as Aizen before. The reason Rin was worried about taking Aizen's case was simply because Aizen was hated by many. Never had he seen a nation rise up and rally against a criminal before. Everyone wanted him behind bars. Most wanted him dead. Rin promised his frightened wife that he wouldn't get involved in the case, she was afraid that if Rin saved Aizen then their family would become a pariah within the community, and truthfully Rin was afraid of the same thing. He told himself that he would definitely not get involved in Aizen's case. That was until he was cornered in his office by two men. Words were said, a briefcase was opened, _millions _of pounds was shown to him, and the next thing he knew, he was signing the papers to be Sosuke Aizen's official lawyer.

To describe him as nervous was an understatement as he sat in the court hall waiting for Aizen to enter so they could begin his trial. Rin was absolutely shitting himself. For the first time ever, he found himself doubting his abilities as a lawyer. Getting Aizen off the hook would be hard and at first he had been tempted to just take the money and then run when Aizen lost the case. But his two accomplices who had asked him to be the lawyer had told him, in no uncertain terms, that if Aizen went to jail then his family would suffer the consequences.

_How do I get myself into these situations? _he asked himself as he took several gulps of the glass of water in front of him in an attempt to calm himself. Suddenly, the doors at the back of the court hall were pushed open and everyone simultaneously turned around to watch Sosuke Aizen, dressed in a plain black suit, being marched down the small aisle, flanked by four security guards. Rin frowned as he watched the man, when they had first met he had seemed healthy and looked calm and collected but now he looked an utter mess. His hair was greasy and looked as if it hadn't seen a comb, he had bags under his eyes and his suit looked filthy, almost as if he had borrowed it from a hobo. Rin almost checked to see if he was wearing shoes! Rin didn't appear to be the only one who was taken aback by Aizen's appearance, as most of the jury were staring at him with wary looks.

The judge and jury surveyed him carefully, all of them having already made their decision. He was _Guilty_ and deserved more than just jail.

"Sosuke Aizen," the judge boomed as Aizen took his seat and was hand-cuffed securely to the table, "you are hear today called to account for your many heinous crimes. You are being put on trial for the murders of, Hinamori Momo, Hitsuguya Toshiro, Tia Harribel, and Kaien Shiba. You are also being put on trial as an accomplice in the murder of Masaki Kurosaki. This jury will also judge you on your crimes of robbery, rape, arson and general vandalism. Do you agree to these charges?"

There was silence in the court room as the jury and audience watched with baited breath, half of them expected him to deny the many charges put against him. Instead, he paused for a moment before nodding,

"I agree to these charges," he rasped quietly. Rin winced at his voice, it sounded to weak and feeble, like he was ill. His worry that he would lose this case heightened exponentially. The judge frowned, clearly also thinking that something was wrong with Aizen before he slammed his gravel on the wooden surface and said,

"Well then, Kyoko-san, you may begin,"

Rin stood up shakily and approached the bench, _here goes nothing…_

_

* * *

_

Rin groaned and had to work very hard not to slam his head into the table as he listened to yet another flawless defence from the Attorney who was trying to get Aizen a life sentence in prison. His evidence was perfect, as was his delivery and it was clear to Rin that he had the jury on his side. He was fighting a losing battle and he knew it. He shot Aizen a glare, as if trying to silently blame him for the situation he know found himself in. Losing wasn't an option, he had his wife and kids to think about, but he truly did not know how he could possibly win this case. Aizen was guilty, it was simple, he was going to jail for life and there was nothing Rin could do about it.

"…so Ladies and Gentlemen, I ask you to think about this case on a personal level. Would you be happy to know that this _mad-man _was still on the streets due to yourselves? Think about your family members, think about the families members of the unfortunate souls who were killed at the hands of Aizen…do the right thing. Jail him…for life. Thank you," the Attorney shot Rin a smug look before sitting back down in his seat.

"Kyoko-san, the floor is yours," the judge said. Rin nodded and shakily stood up, not really knowing what he was even going to say. From one look at the jury he could already see that they had made their minds up and it would take a miracle for him to get them to change them. He turned around and glanced at Aizen briefly, and all of a sudden…everything clicked into place. He could have slapped himself for not realising what Aizen's plan had been all along and he hoped that it would not be too late for him to put it into action. With a predatory smile and a cocky gait, Rin walked to the front before whipping around and saying loud and clear,

"I call Chief of Police, Hisagi Shuuhei to the stand".

.

.

.

"Chief Shuuhei, you've been following Aizen's case since the beginning haven't you?" Rin asked once Hisagi had sat down in the seat and had said the oath.

"I have. I was first put on the case when I was a Lieutenant, but I have been following since the beginning".

"Good, good, now I assume this means you have witnessed my clients atrocities first hand?"

"I have", Hisagi blanced a little, as if her were remembering some of the murder scenes he had been witness to, and Rin hurried up to stop the jury from remembering the murder scenes as well.

"Now, as you have had a first hand view of my cases, would you say that the acts of my client were that of a sane person?"

"I w- erm, excuse me?"

"You heard me Chief Shuuhei".

"I…I'm afraid I don't understand your question".

"I shall phrase it differently for you then. Cast your mind back to murders of Hinamori Momo and Hitsuguya Toshiro, I assume you remember the details of their deaths?"

"Of course I do, Hinamori was-"

Rin raised a hand to cut him off, "there is no need to describe her death Chief Shuuhei, I am sure none of us need reminding of that particular travesty. What I want to ask you is, as you saw their bodies, was the act that was performed on the children and act you would expect a sane man to commit?"

"Well no, of course not. But-"

"So what you are saying Chief Shuuhei, is that you agree that no sane person would violate the bodies of two young children in the way my client did?"

A light dawned in Hisagi's eyes as he realised exactly what Rin was trying to do, and he narrowed his eyes at the crafty lawyer.

"Chief Shuuhei, I believe I asked you a question…"

"Fine, yes I do not believe that a sane person could commit such atrocities, _but _your client seems to be the exception to that belief of mine!"

"Ah, but Chief Shuuhei," he turned around and looked at the jury, "I would like you all to take a look at my client. Does he look like a sane man to you?"

Aizen chose this moment to also look at the jury, he had a sort of fragile, innocent, fear in his eyes as he stared at them and Rin could not help but grin. Aizen had turned out to be a magnificent actor, he was not playing the "insane" card too extreme, but he was playing it enough to put doubts in the jury's mind. Rin turned his attention back to Hisagi who was scowling at him openly.

"Chief Shuuhei, I seem to remember you labelling my client as a "mad man" in an interview with one of the news stations, am I correct in remembering this?"

Hisagi nodded stiffly, "you are correct".

"Well, so you agree that my client is not entirely sane, or as you so eloquently put it, you agree that my client is a mad man?"

Hisagi said nothing and instead pursed his lips into a thin line. Rin smiled once more before saying,

"I am done with this witness, your honour".

As he sat back down in his chair and watched the Attorney General get up to counter question Hisagi, Rin could not help but think that perhaps he had a chance at winning. It was a slim chance, but he was feeling lucky.

* * *

Rin's heart was beating like it never had before as he and Aizen rose to listen to the jury's verdict. He felt quite confident that they had played the "insane" card pretty well without milking it too much, but then again, this was a highly unorthodox case and he could not get a good bearing on how the jury had reacted to his closing statement. Under the table he crossed his fingers, praying that Lady Luck was on his side.

"Madame foreperson, has the jury reached a verdict?" the judge asked.

"Yes, we have your honour, on the counts of the murders of Tia Harribel, Hinamori Momo, Hitsuguya Toshiro, and Kaien Shiba, we find the plaintiff…_guilty_…"

Rin felt his stomach drop.

"…on the count of ordering the murder of Masaki Kurosaki, we find the plaintiff…_guilty_…"

Rin groaned and placed both hands on the table, he had lost. He just hoped the henchmen would be kind to his family and not torture them for too long.

"But," the foreperson said, "we have not been able to agree on whether the plaintiff is of sound mind. Therefore, he is too have a three month psychiatric evaluation at Seireitei Psychiatric Hospital, in which we will then return and asses whether the plaintiff was sane when he committed his crimes."

The judge nodded, "Jury members, thank you for your time. You are dismissed!"

Rin could have jumped and pumped the air, he had never been so happy with a result in his life. This was excellent.

"You just need to prove to them in the hospital that you are indeed crazy and you will avoid going to jail," Rin whispered just before Aizen was ushered away by the guards from before. Aizen nodded to his lawyer before silently allowing himself to be dragged away.

When nobody could see his face, Aizen allowed himself a small smile. Everything was going exactly to plan, and he did not need to worry about acting insane in the hospital, after all…he did not plan on staying there for long.

* * *

It was absolute chaos for Orihime to get into work the day after Aizen's sentencing. Protestors, news crews and police officers sat outside the hospital and prevented her from getting in. They were making a horrendous amount of noise and Orihime tittered disapprovingly at all of them, surely this noise wouldn't be good for some of the patients! She had known that it wouldn't be easy to transport such a notorious criminal to their hospital, but she had not expected such a large reaction from the public.

"Oi! No reporters or members of the public are allowed inside until Chief Shuuhei gives us the all clear," a muscled police officer glared at Orihime as she tried to push past him to get into the building.

"No, I work in there," she huffed, "and I have patients I need to be attending to, so if you'd excuse me…" she tried once again to push past him, but he stopped her.

"You're a doctor here, huh?" his eyes travelled from her own eyes and stopped at her chest and she cursed herself for wearing such a tight fitted sweater that day. With a "humph!" she wrapped her jacket firmly around her body and tried to mimic the scowl she had seen Ichigo do so many times.

"I am most certainly a doctor, and like I said before, I have patients I need to see!"

"Let's see some proof them," he held out a large beefy hand, "I.D."

"I.D…I.D…oh…" Orihime's cheeks coloured as she remembered that she did not have her I.D badge with her, she had stopped wearing it a long time ago once she realised that none of the other staff wore theirs. The policeman gave her a smug look,

"No I.D, no entry. I suggest if you want to get to "work" then you go back home and get it".

"Ah, but I don't have _time_ to go home and get it, I'm on a strict schedule you know?"

"Go home tits, you're not getting in without any I.D and that's final!"

"T-t-tits!" Orihime squealed, subconsciously wrapping her jacket even tighter around her body.

"You heard me, now _get_, as attractive as you are, I've got better things to be doing than standing here arguing with you," he then began muttering something about '_hot reporters thinking they can get everything because of their looks' _and Orihime's cheeks reddened some more. She disliked people ogling her body and knew that Ichigo would be even less happy about it if she ever decided to tell him. She sighed reluctantly and was about to turn to go home and try and find her I.D badge when she heard a voice call her name,

"OI! ORIHIME, OVER HERE!"

Glancing up she saw Ikkaku waving at her frantically by the hospital entrance doors. She pointed to the beefy police officer to show that he was not letting her through and Ikkaku sighed before running down the steps to meet her.

"Ah, Ikkaku-san, he won't let me in," she said, giving the police officer a look. Ikkaku sighed once more before grabbing Orihime's arm and pulling her across the makeshift barrier the police officers had made.

"Look, we appreciate that you're trying to keep it calm out here, but don't affect our doctors, okay?"

"She didn't have her I.D, how the hell was I supposed to know she was a doctor?"

But Ikkaku and Orihime were already firmly marching up the stairs back into the building.

"Thank you for that Ikkaku-san, I was afraid I'd have to go home and get my I.D and I really didn't have time for that today."

"Yeah…just don't forget your I.D, okay?"

Orihime frowned at the curtness of his voice, normally the bald security guard was much more friendly with her, "is everything ok Ikkaku-san?"

"Not really, nobodies really happy about having that bastard here. We've had to increase security and I'm on my 17th hour shift without a break."

"Ah," Orihime said nodding, truthfully she was not too excited about having Aizen in the same building as her, he scared her and she hoped she would not have to come into contact with him. But more than that, the fact that Ichigo was in the building as the man who was apparently _really _the one responsible for his mothers death worried her immensely, "well hopefully we won't have to come into contact with him, we can just pretend like he's not here, eh?"

Ikkaku had stopped and was looking at her with a strange expression, "now _that _is part of the reason why I was sent to come and find you,"

"You were sent to find me, why?"

"Unohana-sama wants to speak to you."

Orihime's heart immediately began beating at the mention of Unohana, she was forever fearful that the woman had found out about her relationship with Ichigo and was about to fire her, "a-about what Ikkaku-san?" she asked timidly, already fearing the worst.

Ikkaku scowled before shaking his head and sighing, "I'll let her tell you, now hurry up before she gets annoyed at how long we're taking!"

.

.

.

It was with shaky hands that Orihime knocked on Unohana's door, and with even shakier feet that she stepped through it and bowed politely at the older woman.

"Good morning Unohana-sama, Ikkaku-san informed me that you wanted to see me?"

She looked extremely grave and not at all like the motherly figure Orihime normally saw her has.

"Ah yes, Inoue-san, I was beginning to wonder where you had gotten to. I just wanted to introduce you to your new patient."

"Patient?"

With furrowed eyes she looked around the room, and what she saw made her heart stop. Sosuke Aizen was sitting in a corner, strapped to a chair with three security guards standing close to him.

"I'm sure you know of Sosuke Aizen?"

Orihime nodded her head slowly, surely nothing good could come of this.

* * *

**A/N: **Hohumhm what is Aizen planning? teehehe :)

Review please ^_^


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